Ordinary World (A Twilight Fanfiction)
by TheMetaBard
Summary: Bella can't believe the lotto she's won when it comes to her new husband. Edward is lovely. He's caring, trustworthy, protective. He's also a human now. And deaf. Two new traits they are both coming to terms with. And, as they figure out their place between monsters and humans, they both find out that the ordinary world might not be as easy as they thought. (sequel to Come Undone)
1. Rings

**Hello great, poetic land mermaids of the Twilight fandom.**

 **If you are reading this fic before reading Come Undone - what are you doing? You're going to be so confused. Stop what you're doing and go to the other story, read that and come back here.**

 **If you are here from Come Undone - congratulations you found another 7Eleven urinal cake of fic. This fic is going to be a different flavor than the last one. I'm getting away from the SM-teenage-angst and delving into some more adult themes. Why? 1) to flex my writing style 2)because both of these kiddos have GROWN. They need some grown up problems and BD sucks ASS in that department (fetal explosion, really?) 3)What do the Volturi think of this whole human thing? Hmmmm...? *sips tea***

 **So, a couple of things:**

 **-Sex. There's going to be some wholesome, vanilla, hetero, softcore sex scenes. Not lemons bc I hate those (if you want good sex Twilight fanfiction, I heard 50 Shades of Grey is pretty good) But, I totally expect Bella and Edward as married teenagers who are of the same species would be fuckin' like rabbits. So expect that.**

 **-I am h-o-h (Meniere's is a bitch, y'all) and have been in the Deaf (with a capital D) community for a bit. I know ASL (not natively fluently, but I am can converse) Deaf people get SHIT when it comes to media. Children of a Lesser God was the last good thing for Deaf people in the last like twenty-something years, imho. So, if you can't find something, create it lmao That's why I'm doing this fic, honestly. Come Undone was for you guys. Ordinary World is more of my passion project. The chapters will be longer and better edited, but they probably won't come as fast. BE PATIENT ily**

 **-ASL written in this story is going to be translated into the ~~English equivalent~~ because ASL on paper is called gloss and it looks like this: TONIGHT SEE MOVIE ME / GO WITH ME CAN YOU. Hearing people who sign also tend to talk while they sign (this is called simcom). So the English equivalent just makes sense in all regards.**

 **-Some warnings without giving stuff away: adult stuff, okay? Maybe it'll be mental. Maybe someone (major) will die. Who knows, right?**

 **READ AND REVIEW.**

* * *

 _Bella - 2009_

There was a deep, profound sigh behind me that caused me to pause what I was doing on the computer and spin around in the office chair.

Edward, my husband – a word that gave me both butterflies and the cold sweats – was sitting on his knees on the floor of his bedroom, surrounded by his eighty-year-old music collection. His hands moved from cardboard box to cardboard box as he pulled tapes and records out and inspected them. I watched as he inhaled air until his cheeks were puffed up and then let it all out with a noise that sounded like a dying balloon.

I propped my head on my hand and watched him organize his stuff, ogling him for the millionth, billionth time since I've met him. He was perfect. He had bronze-y, messy hair and a splash of freckles over his nose and the tops of his cheeks. A birth mark in the shape of a heart sat over his lovely collarbone. A Chiseled jaw and eyebrow bone made up his face. And his _eyes -_ I pressed my lips together to keep from swooning - his eyes were the prettiest, purest shade of emerald green I've ever seen.

He ran his fingers through his hair and turned his head to the side, revealing one of his flesh-colored hearing aids. A reminder of the newest bullet point on the list of Things that Make Edward Edward.

He was deaf.

This fact was one that we were both still getting used to. He hadn't always been deaf. In fact, as of seven weeks and six days ago, he could hear all sounds humans could, most sounds humans could not, _and_ everyone's thoughts as they were created in their heads, with the odd exception of mine.

He tipped his head and one of his hearing aids gave a screech of feedback – a high-pitched noise that sounded like when a microphone is tipped towards its speaker.

I waved my hand towards him to get his attention and his beautiful, green eyes snapped at me. "Your hearing aid is squealing." I said and formed my hands into the word for 'feedback' in American Sign Language.

His fingers found the backs of his ears and the squealing stopped. "That better?" His voice was clumsy, like he was trying to talk out of his nose and a couple ticks too loud, but it was still Edward's voice. The voice of the man I loved.

"Yep." I signed at him – my fist moving up and down in the air like a nodding head - and leaned forward. "How's the sorting going?"

"What?" He said.

I made a motion to the mess he had created on his bedroom floor. "How is sorting?" I enunciated my words better so he could read my lips.

He was going through his stuff, preparing for the eventual move out of Forks. His music being his most extensive and involved collection to move.

His eyes flashed and mouth twisted. "I don't know if I can get rid of anything." His eyebrows pulled together. "I love it all."

I moved from the office chair to my knees on the floor next to him, being careful not to accidentally push any of his stacks over or snap a fragile record. "Then don't get rid of anything." I said and shook my head.

He stopped my chin with his fingers, his brows furrowing. "What?"

"Don't trash your music." I said and signed slowly. "Just put it in storage for now." I had to fingerspell 'storage' since I didn't know that sign yet.

He picked up a tape box and tapped his chin, his eyes tracing around the boxes. He finally sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"I know I'm right." I leaned forward and kissed him. It was easier to kiss him now that he was human. He wasn't a predator anymore with a bunch of predatory features designed to lure in prey. I didn't get dazed and woozy from his scent anymore. However, he still smelled amazing, like fresh soap and cut grass.

Some things never changed, though. I still had to fight the urge to throw myself at him in a fit of ecstasy every time he looked at me with shiny adoration and my heart rate would still take off like a jackhammer in my kiss every time our lips met.

But, as of seven weeks and _five_ days ago, _his_ did _too_ now.

He pressed the palm of his hand into the small of my back to pull me closer to him so I was straddling his lap. I ran my fingers ran through his wavy hair, down his chest. He cupped my face and opened his mouth slightly, to let me in further. I felt his erection through his jeans and pressed myself closer to drive him crazy enough to want to move to the bed.

A couple of thoughts always ran through my head when we kissed like this:

1) He was so warm now. I couldn't get over the fact that we were now the same temperature. I loved feeling his flush in his neck and across his cheeks. I loved feeling the divots in his lower back go damp with sweat. I loved feeling his warm breath tickle my bare skin.

2) Sex was _way_ better now that we were both human. He could be _free_ to do what he wanted now, what I wanted now - which was _everything._ No more worrying about losing control and breaking me somehow, which he was always afraid of doing. As humans, we could have every part of each other now.

3) How I rolled this dice of fortune and gotten Edward as my one true love in life, I have no idea. But, I counted my blessing with every sigh and gasp and tiny noise of his. Every murmur of my name made me thank my stars, even if it sounded a little funny now.

He pushed me back as I was getting into it so he could talk to me. "What time is it?" He asked. His green eyes were swimming with lust and adoration, as if I was the prize and not the lucky winner in this situation.

"Hey, Siri." I said aloud, without taking my eyes off of Edward. I squished my chest against him and ran my lips against his strong jaw. "What time is it?"

 _"It's two-thirty-eight pm."_ My phone answered back from its place on the desk.

"Two-thirty-eight." I signed.

His brow furrowed. "We have to get to class."

"It's Thursday?" I pouted and pressed my forehead against his chest.

Edward giggled at me, his hands running up and down my arms. "Dan would be disappointed if his favorite students weren't in ASL class."

I pulled back. "Because we make up a fourth of his attendance sheet." I groaned and carefully got to my feet, pulling Edward up with me. He was a head taller than I was and had an athletic build – which was actually getting better, _beefier_ since he started running and lifting weights in the morning. As if he couldn't get any more _perfect._

"Maybe we can visit a jewelry store after class?" Edward's eyes flashed with hope.

I turned around to grab my stuff from his desk. "Yeah, sure, maybe." I said quickly and glanced at my ring-less left hand, making sure it didn't spontaneously grow one. Edward was very, _very_ excited to be married, but he came from a time where that's what you _did._ You got married young because it was expected of you. 1918 was a very traditional era, I imagined.

I wasn't _not_ excited to be married. I loved the fact that I got to grow old with the man I loved. But, I grew up in the modern world raised by my mother who thought marrying young was Satan's gift to humanity to make them as miserable as possible.

This belief is why I had postponed telling my parents, instead opting to come back to Forks pretending that everything was exactly the way it was, with the small exception that Edward was now deaf and cured of whatever 'cancer' he had gone to Japan to get treated for.

"What did you say?" He asked, his hand grabbing mine.

I hesitantly looked at him. "Maybe." I signed.

He rolled his eyes and dropped my hand. "That means no." He started for the door.

"Edward, wait." But, he didn't have his eyes on me, so he didn't hear me. I chased after him, grabbing his shoulder to get his attention before he descended the Cullen household's grand staircase. "We can go to a jewelry store if you want." I said.

"I don't want to force you to do anything that you don't want to do." He said.

"I just…" I started, anxiety making my voice high and squeaky. "If I come home with a ring on my finger and Charlie sees he's going to throw me in the FPD jailhouse and then go on a manhunt for you. Like, with bulletproof vests and attack dogs and the full SWAT team. I just need to tell Charlie first." I sucked in a breath. "Okay?"

A bunch of emotions flashed in his grass-green eyes as I spoke. Confusion first as he tried to follow along, frustration second when he couldn't because I speaking too fast, and then resignation when he gave up the effort.

"I lost you, didn't I?" I said slowly.

He just breathed a short breath of exasperation and turned to descend the stairs.

"Edward," I chased after him again.

I tripped, since stairs and two left feet don't exactly mix, and started to tumble. Edward caught me by the shoulders before I completely ate it and straightened me back up.

"Both of my parents are divorced because they got married at my age." I said slowly, using the few signs I knew now to help convey what I meant. "Knowing that their only daughter did the exact same thing _without telling them_ is going to be hard."

The sign for 'hard' was two curled peace signs going opposite ways, right on top of each other. I imagined for a second each hand as my parents when their marriage failed: going opposite ways, but staying right on top of each other.

He put his hands on my shoulders. "I'm not mad at you."

But, he was. Because this was our one and only fight and we had it about every three days. Edward would ask me if I had told Charlie yet, eager to do married-couple things like go on a honeymoon and live in the same house fulltime. And I would argue the fact that knowing that their eighteen-year-old daughter running off and getting married - the _exact same mistake they did_ \- would basically kill them. And he would drop the subject, frustrated.

I sighed deeply. At least I wasn't _pregnant_.

He started to turn and I touched his arm so he would focus on me again. "I'm sorry I spoke too fast." I signed.

He pressed a kiss to my forehead and closed his eyes, ending the conversation.

"You guys are going to be late." Alice said from the base of the stairs.

Alice was a vampire, which is what Edward used to be before a Japanese doctor developed a cure for vampirism. She had all the vampire traits: impossible beauty, hard, marble-white skin, and golden eyes. And then there were the traits that were specifically Alice: her delicate, toothpick frame, her playful gleam in her eyes, and her black hair that stuck out in odd directions.

"Do you want me to drive you? I was thinking of going to Port Angeles myself." She offered, a mischievous smile crossing her lips. "Since you drive like a human now?"

Edward descended the rest of the stairs, his hands around his eyes like blinders, his crooked grin on his face. "If I can't see your mouth move, I don't know what you are saying." He said

"Rude!" She flashed over to him at impossible speeds, knocked him to the carpeted floor with a grunt, and perched over him, a wicked smile over her face.

I jogged down the rest of the stairs to see if he was okay. His vampire family could be a little too rough with him, forgetting that he was a fragile, breakable human now. His brothers were especially bad. New hand and finger-shaped bruises bloomed over his arms and legs almost daily.

"Don't you dare." His eyes widened at his sister as he stared up at her.

"Oh, I dare."

Her fingers moved over his ribs and he thrashed around with the tickles, laughing hard. "No, no." He laughed and tried pushing her granite arms off of his body. "Stop it, Alice!

"I should take a bite out of you!"

"No, no." He wheezed and tried to fight her off, his red hair falling into his face and his crooked grin wide on his face. "You're _killing_ me."

Esme ghosted from somewhere in the house, her face twisted into an angry mask, a growl already forming in her throat. "Alice, stop it." She ordered.

Alice froze, sighed, and picked Edward back up to his feet – a fluid movement that took a millisecond to do. "I wasn't _actually_ killing him." She argued.

"Alice," Esme said in a warning tone.

"Ugh, no _fun_."

Edward fixed his hearing aid that was starting to squeal again. "It's okay." He said as he played with the device and looked at his watch. "She was being careful."

Esme just gave another warning glance to Alice, who rolled her eyes and crossed her chest. "You guys better hurry." She said at the both of us. "You're going to be late to class."

Edward wasn't looking at Esme, instead his eyes trained downward at his wrist. His jewel eyes widened. "Oh, we're going to be late to class."

* * *

Edward played his music _loud_ in the car. So loud, you could feel it in your chest and the soles of your feet and watch it vibrate the windshield. Which is exactly why he played it so loud – so he could feel it. This must've been a song that he knew pretty well too, because he bobbed his head with the beat and sang along with the lyrics off-key.

I pursed my lips as I studied his face as he drove, wracking my brain for a way to tell my dad that we were married.

I remembered when we got back to Forks and I had to tell him about what happened to Edward without 1) giving away the Cullens' secret and 2) making myself sound completely mentally unstable…

I had grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and set them on the coffee table. Samuel Adams brand - his favorite. "Dad, I need to talk to you." I said as I popped the top off of one and sat down next to him on the couch.

I watched his eyes widen at the beer I readily offered – not something I normally did as I discouraged his alcohol consumption - and watched the gears turn in his head and what I could _possibly_ have to talk to him about. His eyes flashed with a bunch of different emotions as he weighed out the possible topics, like a news ticker of possibilities right in front of his eyes - _I was pregnant. I did something felonious. I'm joining a cult. I needed money._ "Okay, Bells." He started hesitantly. "Shoot."

I sucked in a short breath. "It's about Edward."

That opened a _whole_ new can of worms. "Is he okay?" He asked first, leaning forward to hear what I had to say.

I knew what he meant: the 'cancer.' Edward had come down with a grave disease only vampires could get – the strikes it was affectionately known as - but we passed it off as a rare form of brain cancer to the rest of Forks, Charlie included.

"Actually…that's what I want to talk to you about." I said. "He's doing great."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good."

"Yeah," I started, my eyebrows pulling together. "The treatment he received in Japan has put him into a…remission. He's a lot better than he was. No more cancer. No more pain or crutches anymore."

"That's great!" Charlie celebrated as he sipped his beer. He looked at my disconcerted expression with confusion and his smile faded. "Isn't it?"

My mouth twisted around as I tried to think. "Dad," I started suddenly. "Do you know how the Cullens all look the same? Even though they are adopted?"

He shrugged. "Sure." And then his eyebrows furrowed as he gave it another thought. "Hmm. Why _do_ they all look the same?"

"They all have a…genetic abnormality." I said. "Like albinism, but not. It's a long scientific word that I can't even begin to pronounce. Carlisle and Esme both have it and they sought out kids with it too."

He nodded and drank the rest of his beer. While Charlie was bright, genetic biology was not his forte. He took that explanation without any fight, like I had assumed he would. "Makes sense."

"Well, the treatment Edward had has corrected the abnormality, so he looks a little different from the rest of his family now." I said. "Unfortunately, it also took his hearing."

Charlie's eyes flashed with surprise at me. "He's _deaf_ now?"

I nodded in response.

"How's he taking that? How are _you_ taking that?"

I looked down at my hands. "It was a surprise to everyone, but he's handling it better than we expected." I said, "I just don't want to you to be shocked when you see him, because he's a bit…self-conscious about it." _I'm also married to him now._ I wanted to add at the end, but didn't, my mouth suddenly feeling like it was stuff with a bunch of cotton.

Charlie looked at me peculiarly – like he was still waiting for a punchline to the joke. "Is that it?" He asked guardedly, guessing there was something else.

"That's it." I lied, my voice sounding squeaky. I tensed for the interrogation. He could tell I _was_ lying, right? I was a horrible liar.

Instead – to my surprise - he relaxed. "I don't think your boyfriend going deaf is a 'two beers' situation, Bells." He said as he grabbed the other and settled on the couch. "I don't get worked up over stuff like that. I'm not your _mom_." He teased.

"Yeah, you're definitely _not_ Mom." I gulped, knowing I would have to tell Renee about the marriage eventually too. Marrying young was ranked among genocide and maybe punching kittens in my mother's mind.

A siren dropped me out of my memory and back into the present. I touched Edward's shoulder and made the sign for "ambulance," which looked like I was screwing in a light bulb over my head. He glanced up in the rearview mirror and pulled into the shoulder of the road to let the emergency vehicle pass.

"Thank you." He said.

"Welcome." I signed back.

His eyebrows pulled together and he sighed as he merged back out onto the empty two lane highway that connected Forks to Port Angeles. I touched his arm again and he glanced at me briefly while I signed. "What's wrong?"

"Headache." He answered.

Worry made me blanche slightly, even though I knew exactly where these headaches were coming from. Muscles memory from the time with the strikes, where small pains were the symptom of something much more sinister.

 _These_ headaches, though, were entirely ordinary. Edward's new struggles with communication forced him to concentrate hard to read lips. _Too_ hard. Tension headaches were almost guaranteed at the strain he had to endure to converse nowadays.

And he got them more often when he was speaking with his family. Vampires spoke quickly and fluidly, barely moving their lips at all. I caught him saying "what?" or "repeat that" about six hundred times a day. And it didn't help that his family didn't seem to make an effort to make communication easier for him by enunciating or better yet, picking up sign language.

"Do you want to switch?" I asked when I watched one of his eyes squint close.

He looked at me and nodded and then pulled to the side of the road again. I pulled out a bottle of Advil from my schoolbag and handed it to him before switching positions. I adjusted the mirrors, lowered the volume of the music, and moved the seat before pulling back out onto the highway.

"When are they going to take ASL?" I signed with one hand after a couple of moments of silent driving.

He didn't answer for a moment. "Esme is learning." He finally said.

"Esme isn't your only family."

He fell silent and still. That's why he didn't push me too hard to tell Charlie about the marriage, because he also had a secret of his own: how much he had to struggle to communicate with the other Cullens.

I didn't really understand why he didn't tell him. I assumed his family would take up sign language if they knew how hard being deaf was for him, but he didn't like bringing it up. It was like he felt _guilty_ for being deaf. Like it was his fault somehow and by asking them to learn ASL, he was putting them out.

"You should say something." I signed.

"I'm okay." He said in his stilted accent, his eyebrows furrowing. "The headaches will get better once I get better at lip reading."

I sighed through my nose, so he wouldn't see the action, and reached over to take his warm, soft hand.

Our class was made up of six other adult students. Dan, our teacher, was a hard-of-hearing, middle-aged guy with large blue hearing aids that dressed like he was going to a Woodstock reunion party. "Good evening, Cullens." Dan signed as we both took our seats in the back, fluidly fingerspelling our last name, my _new_ last name.

Edward was the only deaf student in the class. Everyone else probably thought this was an easy A, as I think the only other foreign language offered at this tiny community college was Spanish.

"Today, we're going to talk about noun/verb pairs in lesson five." Dan signed as he spoke, referring to the PowerPoint that was projected on the screen behind him.

I opened our shared textbook to the lesson we were on and Edward traced the back of my hand with his fingertips as he watched Dan sign.

It was a little disconcerting to me when I learned that ASL had its own grammar and syntax. I thought it was just English, but with your hands – easy enough, right? But, there were all these rules you had to follow. Sentences were made up differently than how they were conveyed in spoken English. And it wasn't just your hands that spoke, it was your body language, your position, your facial expressions. A conversation turned into a full body workout.

But, I threw myself at it with everything I got, taking advantage of the summer before college to crash course myself into this new language. I set up extra time during the week with Dan to practice. I watched YouTube in ASL. I would fingerspell road signs with one hand to myself as I passed them while driving, order food in ASL, try and interpret the news as I watched television with Charlie. And of course, converse as much as I could with Edward directly. And even with all my extra effort, I still felt like I wasn't learning it fast enough. At least, not learning it fast enough to be useful to Edward.

Because, no matter how much I was holding off telling my parents, I _was_ Edward's wife and Edward was now deaf, which meant that I was – to an extent – his link to the hearing world.

And that scared the absolute crap out of me.

Edward ripped a page from his notebook and wrote down a note in his elegant handwriting. _You okay?_

Dang it. Edward was so _observant_ of everything I did now. The man couldn't read my mind, but that didn't stop him from knowing exactly what was running through my head.

 _I'm fine._ I wrote back, my handwriting not nearly as nice as his.

 _You shouldn't worry about telling Charlie._ He wrote. _What's he honestly going to do to you? Kick you out of his house? Then you can live with us full time!_ He punctuated the last sentence with a happy face.

Okay, maybe he didn't know _exactly_ what was in my head. I hadn't been thinking about telling Charlie about our marriage. At least, not in the last five minutes. I hesitantly picked up the pen. _He would tell my mom._

Edward was called on to answer a question – his attention grabbed by Dan, who flicked the lights at the front of the room on and off. He put his pen down and rose his hands to answer.

Renee, a person who lived and learned from life experiences – the good _and_ the bad ones – always warned me about getting involved too young. "Marriage is a conspiracy, Bella _."_ She would say. "Don't make the same mistakes I did. Hold off drinking that Kool-Aid for as long as you can." I would _not_ hear the end of it once I told her. It would be something she would haunt me with for the rest of her natural life.

Once he was done answering his question, Edward went back to writing his response. _They're both going to know eventually._ He wrote.

I moved my hand so our fingers were tangled together, so he couldn't write down more of what I already knew.

* * *

I drove again after class and with my eyes almost rolled 180 degrees up into my eye sockets, I found a locally owned jewelry store and pulled into the parking lot. It was for _Edward_ \- the love of my life, the air in my lungs, and the blue to my sky. My _husband._ I could peruse around a jewelry store for a couple of moments to _humor_ him. Maybe even try on one or two.

Edward looked at me with surprise in his beautiful eyes and I threw his car into park and pulled up the e-brake. "Really?"

"Yes, but you owe me dinner after this." I said and poked him in the ribs.

He responded with a gigantic, lopsided grin.

It was still open – but for only another fifteen minutes. The door bell above our heads dinged and the older Native American lady with a long braid looked up from her romance novel with a smile. "Welcome."

I started pursuing the cases, Edward's fingers looped with mine. I was drawn to the turquois. Reminded me of the desert in Arizona. And the topaz – Edward's old eye color.

Edward disconnected from me to walk over to the other side of the store.

"Anything I could help you find?" I heard the lady ask Edward.

I looked over my shoulder. Edward was bent over the counter, his eyes not her, so he wasn't catching that she was talking to him. Her eyebrows pulled together into concern. _She probably thinks he's being rude._ I thought, fighting the urge to propel myself over there to assist.

She bent over to look at him through the counter and Edward took notice of her that time. "Anything I can help you find?" She repeated.

"Can I see that one?" He pointed at the glass.

Realization dawned on her face at the sound of his throaty accent. "Oh, yes." She yelled and I cringed. "Which one?"

"Raising your voice doesn't help him hear you." I said, her eyes flicking to me. "Just speak clearly. He'll get it."

She blushed red and then picked up the ring holder he was pointing at. I went back to looking at the turquois, trying to decide if I looked better in gold or silver.

"Bella," He said. "Take a look at this one."

I walked over to where he was standing. He was holding up a delicate looking gold band with an unsymmetrical rough-cut diamond on the top. It was tiny and simple and very, _very_ me.

"That's beautiful." I said and signed.

"Just like you." He signed back and took my hand, sliding the ring onto my finger. I looked up into Edward's eyes. When we said our vows those months ago, Edward's eyes were blood red, he had a tube jammed in his nose, and I had to kiss him around a walker.

Now, his eyes were a bright green and instead of marble white, he was a beautiful healthy peach punctuated by a constellation of brown freckles.

"That's lovely." The lady said. "When's the wedding day?"

"Oh, we're already married." I said sheepishly as I looked at my hand. "We kind of eloped."

"So romantic." She looked at us both.

"How much?" Edward asked and turned to look at the sales lady, his fingers running through his bronze hair.

"Four." She smiled.

I did a quick mental stock of my meager bank account. "You know, after gas this morning, I think I have about four hundred dollars."

"No, thousand."

I ripped the ring off of my finger. _Four thousand dollars._ That was a semester of tuition at a moderately priced college. I handed it back to Edward.

"What are you doing?" Edward asked, his pointer finger wiggling as he signed the ASL equivalent.

"I don't have four thousand dollars." I didn't even _know_ the sign for 'thousand' yet. I just made four and then four zeroes.

Edward snorted and held the ring out. "Bella, you have the money."

"No," I said and pushed his hand back. " _You_ have the money. I have enough for a college textbook and maybe some McDonald's."

"What is mine is yours." He tried handing it back. "That's how marriage works, right?"

"I think it's more like unconditional love and support until we both die."

His eyes became intense, as hard as the jewels they resembled. "Do you like the ring?"

"That doesn't matter. I don't have the money for it."

"Do you like the ring?" He asked again

I was going to lose this argument. I truly, honestly did not know how much money the Cullens had, but I knew it was a lot based on the collective worth of the contents of their six car garage. That didn't stop me from opposing the lavish spending of money he _insisted_ on partaking in. I was raised sensibly on a kindergarten teacher's salary. I would've been happy with a twenty-five cent gumball machine ring, a tattoo, a straw wrapper bow-tied around my finger. I was just _happy_ being with Edward.

Luckily my phone rang in my back pocket and I pulled it out to see Renee's face light up the screen. I was saved from this argument for now.

"It's my mom." I signed and answered it. "Hello?"

"Bella!" I had to pull my phone away from my face as she shrieked. "Phil got signed with the Diamondbacks!" Her voice screeched. "He's major league now!"

Edward looked down at me with questioning eyes as I held my phone at arm's length. I signed what I just heard for him. Although, she was shouting so loud I wouldn't have been surprised if Edward heard it himself, the decibel levels of her voice was high enough.

"That's great!" I said as I pulled my phone back. "Tell him congratulations!"

"You know what that means, right?" She started.

"Free season passes?" I guessed and she laughed at me.

"We're moving back to Phoenix, baby!" She said. "Our home turf! It's going to be so great. I'm so excited to get back to the desert."

I looked at Edward, the ring was still pinched between his fingers, making being a male model look effortless. I tried imagining him under the high desert sun. The last time we were in Phoenix, after the James debacle, he had to wait for the very early morning and the late evening to venture outside since his skin in the sunlight looked like it was embedded with a million little diamonds - a dead giveaway that he was something other than human.

 _But, now._ He didn't effervesce in the sun anymore. _We_ _could visit Phoenix…_

"And I already found a house." She chattered as I ogled my husband. "It's in Glendale. I know your life is in Forks now and you're an independent young lady, but if you ever want to come dry off in the desert, you're more than welcome to stay with us." She sighed melodramatically, like the prospect of me turning into an adult was tiring for her. Which was pretty hilarious, because I've been basically been thirty-five since I was twelve. "I know the babies would love to meet their new big sister!"

"Thanks Mom." I smiled.

"Have you thought about your college plans yet?"

"I think we're going to take this semester easy." I said. "Community college and then transfer to university in the spring."

" _We're_?" She asked confused and then made a noise. "Oh, Edward."

"Yes," I said. "Edward." _My husband._ I wanted to add on the end, but couldn't.

"How's he doing?" I heard the subtext in that question, the ellipses that wasn't said but always implied. _How's he doing…with being deaf?_

I had told the same story to Renee that I did to Charlie, so all she knew was that he was "cancer" free and deaf. "Great. We're both picking up sign language, which has helped _a lot_. Still hasn't decided on his major yet, but you don't really have to pick in the first year if you don't want to."

"That's wonderful, baby." She said. "I'm glad you guys are adjusting well."

"Yeah," I looked at him again. He had migrated down the counter and was looking at a different selection of rings. "Adjusting."

Seven months ago, I was set to follow Edward into _his_ world. I was completely prepared to become a vampire to be able to be with him for the rest of my existence. I was going to abandon my family, my friends, my whole life to follow him. Two months ago, the tables of fate were flipped, and it was _him_ that rejoined _my_ world. He was a human now.

I wondered for a second how I got so _lucky._

"I'll let you go." Renee said. "Give kisses to everyone for me."

"Okay, love you." I said as I held back tears.

I turned around to a small black jewelry box in the middle of my husband's hands. I groaned. "You _didn't_."

"I got one too." He assured, pulling this top off the box. Inside was the ring, the diamond glinting underneath the light and next to it was a thicker, larger band in the same gold. He pulled the rings out and handed his to me and picked up my left hand. "She gave me a discount since I got both at the same time." He grinned as he slipped the ring on.

I slid his ring onto his finger, tracing the new freckles on the backs of his hand before looking up into his eyes. His gaze was intense, searching and tracing all over mine. "I love you."

"Why are you crying?" His thumb ran over a tear that had spilled onto my cheek. "Is everything alright with Renee?"

"Everything is fine." I nodded and pressed the tears out of my eyes, glancing down at the rings on our fingers. "I'm just being sentimental."

"I didn't get any of that."

I made the sign for 'I love you' and he kissed my lips in response.


	2. It's Me

_Edward - 2009_

I had a headache again.

My concentration flew right out of the window. The words I was making out on Carlisle's lips all of a sudden blended together indiscernibly. I squeezed my fists in slight frustration and resigned to wait until he was done, so I could ask him to repeat himself.

Since they no longer had to focus on one spot, I let my eyes wander all over his large office and then over him. I looked at the expressions of my father – the slight tension around his dark eyes. He was thirsty and was feeling it. The line of focus in-between his brow. I looked at his golden hair.

I looked at his still, white hands that were laced together over the papers.

He had called me into his office to go over my latest test results – a biweekly tradition that involved a CT scan of my head, an EKG, and blood work. Preventive care to make sure I wasn't going to spontaneously combust after being the first patient to be transformed from a vampire back into a human. At the moment, the only things that was out of the ordinary was an allergy to kiwi fruit and I could probably do with some braces to fix my crooked lower teeth.

Well, and the fact that I was now profoundly deaf. But, we knew that as soon as I opened my human eyes. I couldn't hear anything softer than ninety decibels, which was lawn mower or a table saw and that's if I had my ear pressed up right against it. My hearing aids helped so I was slightly more aware of my surroundings - but that was it - I was left in silence otherwise.

His hand waved in front of my face and I snapped my attention back to him. "Everything alright?" He asked. I read his lips as _Every…right..._ My brain compensated with assumptions and context clues for what my eyes couldn't pick up and inserted the missing pieces to make it a comprehensible sentence.

And then it protested for the exertion by throbbing right behind my eyes.

"Yeah," I answered, my voice sounding odd in my own head, like I was trying to talk underwater. "I'm fine."

He launched into another round of mouth moving, his hands moving papers around on his desk. "Your EKG looks good. Your resting heart rate is moving a little faster than…" I lost his voice when he looked down at the pages in front of him. I squeezed my fists again and waited until he looked back up at me. "Any questions?"

"No," I shook my head.

"How's your class going?"

I glanced at his still hands again. "I'm learning a lot."

He opened his mouth. "That's…" _Throb._ Wince. Concentration gone again.

"Can you repeat that?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "Are you in pain, son?" _Are...pain…son?_

"I have a headache." I allowed – more than I would around Esme or Jasper or Rosalie - and let my fingers coast to my temples.

Carlisle stood up and moved to me – a blurry streak of white. I felt bad for Bella if that's how I always moved in front of her. I knew we were fast, but I didn't realize we were _that_ fast.

Carlisle's ice cold hands pressed into the hollows under my ears and then moved to touch the muscles of my neck on either side of my spine. I looked up at his face as he said something. I caught "…last night?"

"What?" My new favorite word nowadays.

"You have a tension headache." His eyebrows furrowed. "How long were up to last night?

"Midnight-ish."

"Well, it's late now." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Almost eleven. You should probably get some rest."

I nodded and stood up. "Okay. Goodnight, Dad."

A hand found my shoulder and I turned around. "Let me know if they keep happening." Carlisle said, his eyes concerned.

I nodded at him, looking at his motionless hands again.

When I got to _our_ room, I found Bella on _our_ bed dressed in a pair of sleep shorts and one of my t-shirts. She had one of her slender, pale legs curled up to her chest as she scrolled through my laptop. I refused to call it my bed or my room anymore, even though she only slept in it about four nights out of the week – her attempt to continue to lie to Charlie about the details of our marriage.

She glanced up at me, her wide, brown eyes taking me all in. "Headache?" She twisted her two pointer fingers next to her forehead.

I nodded as I sat down on the edge of the bed and pressed my fingers to my temple again. I felt some movement behind me and all of a sudden there was a bottle of blue pills – Advil PM - being shaken in front of my face.

Bella handed me a couple and a glass of tap water. "Give them about fifteen minutes." She signed and spoke at the same time, bending down after she was done to kiss softly me on the side of the forehead, right where it hurt.

"Thank you." I smiled up at her.

I took the meds and pulled my hearing aids out. The sighs of the amplified ambient noises ceasing and leaving me in complete silence. I jammed my fingers in my ears and massaged my moist canals as I kicked off my clothes to my boxers and rolled next to Bella in the bed.

"What are you working on?" I asked and propped myself up on one arm to face her, unable to hear myself at all now. But, I trusted Bella to let me know if I was speaking too loud.

"ASL." She fingerspelled, without looking up from the computer.

ASL was her current obsession. Bella had a single-minded resoluteness when she got onto something. She identified a goal and pursued it, giving no thought to self-preservation if she thought she could help those around her. She did it when she decided she wanted to become a vampire, when she decided she was going to save me from myself in Volterra, when she chased James in Phoenix, when she put herself in danger to restart my heart.

Luckily, the only danger Bella put herself in when learning ASL was maybe poking her own eye out. Another blessing amongst the thousands that I was no longer a vampire.

I watched the ASL website person sign a series of signs on the screen and then watched Bella mimic the movements with her slender, graceful hands. She was leagues ahead everyone in class, with our instructor, Dan, even joking that she should teach the next one.

I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, letting the Advil kick in and fade the headache out, trying not to dwell on the complete silence that wrapped around me. Silence was such a new experience to me. Before, even when people weren't speaking to me, I still _heard_ , because I could read minds. A constant roar of voices in the back of my head. Now, thought, the silence could be overwhelming. Smothering. Like it was this physical weight on my chest that threatened to press down and suffocate me.

I felt my pulse race, pounding in my head right in front of my ears. I started to compose in my head to distract myself. A simple line of music – an intro or maybe a bridge – to a soft, slow ballad. My fingers flexed automatically as I imagined myself at my piano, playing the notes that looped through my head.

I opened my eyes again when I felt my arm being patted.

"I was thinking for our honeymoon," Bella had turned to face me, her bare legs crossed with the laptop sitting balanced on her knees. I reach out and lightly stroked her pale thigh as I watched her mouth move. "We could visit Arizona?"

My brow furrowed in confusion. _Arizona?_ There were so many other _nice_ destinations. I was thinking somewhere sunny and tropical on the equator – Costa Rica or maybe Fiji. "You want to honeymoon in the state you used to live in?"

She shrugged as she signed. "I want to show you my home state now that you can go out during the day without causing car accidents." Her hands bumped together as she mimicked two cars running into each other in sign language.

I smiled at her joke and sat up, my fingers migrating towards the inside of her thigh. Arousal – while not a _new_ thing for me – was a lot more intense and sudden as a human man. Like a light being turned on inside of me - switch included. "Well, the desert isn't my first choice, but I'm fine with anywhere as long as I'm with you." I said. "Are you going to call it a 'honeymoon' to Charlie?"

She made a face and moved her leg from under my hand. "I will tell Charlie." She sighed. "Eventually."

"We'll be at our second anniversary pregnant with our first child before you get around to telling your parents." I rolled my eyes as I tried to touch her again, her loose shorts making me hyperaware she wasn't wearing panties underneath. I wanted to stroke all the way to the top of her thigh, maybe slip my fingers under the hemline…

"That's not true!" She said, but signed the word for "wrong."

"The not telling your parents part or the pregnant part?" I teased as I inched closer to her, my hand finding its place on her leg again.

"Both!" She scowled slightly. She was adorable when she got mad - like an angry tiger kitten.

I chuckled and cupped her face with one hand. "You don't have to tell him alone. I will be right there alongside of you for the fallout."

"I know." She said and pouted for a moment. Her eyes drifted like she was thinking about something and then snapped back to me suddenly. "And no kids until we're thirty!"

I rolled my eyes. "As someone who just learned how to work the toaster oven this morning, the _last_ thing I need is to bring a child into this world."

She laughed at me, her eyes closing. _I missed the sound of her laugh._

I scooched closer to her, close enough to smell her lavender lotion and feel the heat radiate off of her. I almost groaned with excitement. "Can we practice, though?" I signed "practice," one of the first signs Dan taught us.

"Yes," She smiled back, her hand running down my bare chest, resting over my heart. "Practicing is fine."

I took that as an invitation and kissed her, my hand finally realizing its goal as it ran up and down Bella's thigh.

Kissing Bella as a vampire was a painful experience. My throat blazed with fire, venom filled my mouth and the monster – the instincts of my nature – clawed its way to the surface, barely leashed. Of course, my love and my hyperawareness for Bella's safety kept those all base, animal characteristics in check. But, still, compared to what I have _now._ Kissing Bella as a vampire was like running my tongue through razorblades.

Her fingers moved over me, becoming more urgent. Of course, my own body responded in kind, sending a rush of blood right into my groin. I moaned with it and she kissed me harder, one of her legs finding its way over mine. If I was a vampire, that's where it would've ended. She was so _fragile_. So _breakable._ And I – as the monster I was – was the biggest threat to her safety.

But, I wasn't a vampire anymore. _I was a real boy -_ like Pinocchio - dead wood made into flesh and blood.

So, I kept going. Naturally.

We both rolled simultaneously until I was on my back and Bella was laying on top of me. I anchored one hand around her waist, the other I ran up her shirt. She was a slight person, so I could feel most of her ribs under her soft, smooth skin. I ran my fingers up until I got to one of her nipples, my fingers brushing it until it became solid.

She gasped and I smiled, unlocking our lips so I could peer into the wells of her eyes.

"You're beautiful." I said, letting my hand that was around her waist come up and brush her mahogany hair off of her face, I lingered on her neck again. Her pulse was hammering at the same speed mine was now.

Her fingers came up and made the sign for "condom" and I giggled at her impatience as I fished over onto my bedside table, my hand brushing over my cell phone and my hearing aid case until I got into the drawer.

She busied herself by ripping off the t-shirt and her shorts, revealing her smooth, ivory skin. I took advantage of the nakedness by running my mouth over it. Her skin flushed red wherever I touched and her fingers found my hair and my face. I fiddled with getting the condom on, squirming around her and gasping with lust.

"Okay?" She signed, her brown eyes shiny and wide.

I just nodded.

Her fingers laced with mine and fell over my head on the pillow as she rocked her body back and forth while we made love. I watched her mouth say my name as her head rolled back. " _Edward."_ Two movements: the first was 'Ed,' where she flicked her tongue off the roof of her mouth and the second was 'ward,' which was a rounded w to the d-sound.

It's what I had now. Her mouth moving in the shape of my name and other words as she spoke. The way her head would move with the flow of her speech, the way her eyes would roll around with her emotions, and her small facial expressions – the purse of her lip, the small brow furrow, knowing smiles. And now – slowly as we both learned sign language - it was the way she used her beautiful hands to form words to speak to me.

And love, a language all its own.

 _"_ _Edward."_ She said my name again and I said hers as we both climaxed, ears unnecessary for the bang of fireworks in my head.

Bella fell asleep on my bare chest after cleaning up, redressing and teeth brushing – another one of those human processes I was getting used to.

Even though I was also tired, I forced myself to stay up until she started talking in her sleep. She mumbled, mostly, so I couldn't get anything she was saying, but I liked to watch her dream. I liked watching her round out my name over and over.

I traced one finger down the divot under her nose to the cupid's bow of her lips. She parted them automatically and I studied them as she said my name again. _Edward._ Then her brows furrowed, like she was confused and then her mouth started moving again. Mumbles. Her face scrunched at the end in question.

Mystery. She was such a mystery. Even when I could hear everything, including the thoughts of others around me, she was a mystery to me.

 _Mystery_ was my final thought as sleep – aided by the sex and Advil – finally took me.

* * *

I always knew I was in a dream because I could hear in them.

All the different sounds swirled around me. Waves crashing against the shore. Birds over my head. The wind whistling through my hair. My feet stepping through the sand. It was the first thing I noticed.

I looked at my surroundings. I was on a beach somewhere, right where the water washed the shore. The sand was white underneath me and the water a crystal clear blue, sunlight shimmering on the surface, making it shine like diamonds.

"This is lovely."

I almost jumped back at the unexpected voice. Bella stood next to me, her brown hair whipping around her face in the breeze.

"Yes," I said back, reaching to grip her hand. "You are."

Her face lit up in a smile as she took in the sight around her. I took it in too, inhaling deep breaths of sea breeze. I closed my eyes and pitched my face up towards the heat of the sun. And then I leaned my head to the side as I listened to the ocean waves hit the shore.

"Edward." Bella said gently and I looked at her. The smile had melted from her face and her eyes had gone wide with horror.

Anxiety twisted through me. My newly beating heart started racing in my chest. "What's wrong?" I asked, moving to cup her face.

"It's me." She said quietly, her eyes still alarmed and wide, like she was watching something horrible, like she was in danger. But, we were alone of this beach. It was just us and the ocean.

Panic seized me in the chest, ice cold fingers squeezing me around my heart. "I know, my love. I know it's you." I assured her.

"It's me." She repeated, her hand coming up hesitantly, like she was trying to push me away. "It's Bella."

"Bella," I said. "What are-,"

But, I blinked. And all of a sudden we weren't on a beach. We were in a stone, white room and I wasn't cupping her face, I was gripping her throat. Her eyes were still petrified, wide and scared for her life as I – Edward Cullen, her _husband_ \- squeezed the air from her lungs.

"Edward," She repeated, her voice more urgent, panicked. "It's _me_!"

I woke up then, sitting straight up in bed. _It was a dream._ I panted air like I had been drowning for hours. _Just a dream._ I looked around. Bella had migrated to the other side of the bed and was sleeping soundly, her mouth moving in silent mumbles. I could still feel her pulse fluttering against my fingers and hear her quiet voice in my head. _It's Bella._

I threw myself to my feet, panic pressing on my windpipe and threatening to choke me out. I stumbled into my bathroom, flipped on the light, and closed the door behind me.

I watched my reflection in the vanity mirror heave as I struggled to take in oxygen and push it back out again. I couldn't hear my own gasping. I opened my mouth, but I couldn't hear myself sob. I couldn't hear anything except for Bella's voice echoing around my head. Bella's voice trying to tell me not to hurt her. _It's me._ I closed my eyes and tried to shut it out, but it only got louder. _Edward, it's me._

I sunk to the floor in front of the sink, one hand still on the counter, the other wrapped around my knees as I inhaled ragged breaths and felt the tears press out of my eyes and onto my face. _It's Bella._ My heartbeat pounded hard and fast against the inside of my chest. It felt like my skin was too tight, suffocating.

I felt hands on me and opened my eyes to Bella, worry on her face as she kneeled down in front of me, her hair a messy stack on her head. "What's wrong?" She signed.

I didn't answer. I _couldn't_. I just pulled her to me, feeling her warm frame against mine. She wrapped me in her arms. She pressed her face against my shoulder and I could feel her lips move as she talked me through my panic attack.

I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to inhale slow, deep breaths. Finally, my heartbeat resumed its normal pace in my chest. "I'm sorry for waking you." I breathed.

She pulled away, her brown eyes shining. "Did you have a bad dream?" She asked.

I nodded and looked down. It didn't feel like a dream, though. It felt _real._

She pressed her hand against my face and I looked back up into the deep wells of her eyes. "Advil PM can cause crazy dreams." She said with a small smile. "We can switch to Tylenol."

I pulled her hand from my face and pressed my lips to the tips of her fingers. "Let's go back to bed."

She fell asleep against me again, her head on my chest, her mouth moving with her dreams against my skin. I stared at the ceiling for a long time as I felt her breathe, flipping her words over and over in my head. _It's me. Edward, it's Bella._

* * *

Luckily, I wasn't plagued with anymore nightmares, instead sleeping hard and deep and soundless. I woke up starfished across the bed, to the light streaming through the south wall that was made up of only glass hitting my eyelids. I groaned, rolled away from the light, and reached over towards Bella's side of the bed without opening my eyes, hoping to grab her thigh or maybe something a little higher. Instead, I was met with an empty bed. I sat up to see that I was totally alone.

I grabbed at my phone on the nightstand, almost knocking my hearing aids I didn't bother to put in their case when we got back.

 **8:42** **Gone to Charlie's to make sure he eats. Be back this afternoon. Love you, sleepyhead.** Bella had texted.

My phone said it was 12:38.

I ran my fingers through my hair. I slept in until one in the afternoon?

I missed a FaceTime and a series of texts from Jacob.

 **6:32** **Were we not working out this morning?**

 **7:03 Oh, wait. I texted Bella and she said that you had a rough night.**

I sighed as I picked the sleepies from my eyes and read through the texts. Jacob and I's relationship had developed from mortal enemies to best friends in the last couple of months. It helped a lot that Jacob was no longer fixated on Bella, instead finding his one true love and soul mate in Keiko through the help of imprinting. It helped a lot that we were both misfits now in our respective families – with me being the only human in a coven of vampires and him being the only werewolf with a vampire girlfriend.

I sent a quick text back.

 **Sorry for missing our workout. I promise I'll be on it tomorrow.**

He texted back a minute later.

 **No problem. Let me know if you need anything!**

I got out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom. In the beginning, I had started making mental lists of all the human processes I had to get used to again. But, I lost count somewhere between making sure my shoes were on if I needed to take out the trash because rocks hurt the bottoms of my feet now and growth spurts - one of which I had immediately after I was changed, gaining an inch in height.

I inspected my face as I waited for the shower to heat up. My reflection grimaced at me as I scrutinized a pimple that had formed overnight on my chin. _Why_ did I have to be a teenager when I changed? I lamented for a second that I had put off going through the tail-end of puberty for a hundred years. Why I couldn't have been nineteen or twenty and _past_ this stage of human development?

I put my hearing aids in on my way down the stairs. I wanted to see if Bella was home yet, but a stabbing pain of hunger pulled me into the kitchen for food.

I dug around in the fridge, finding half a leftover pizza. Food had been the most overwhelming transition for me thus far. Before it was _blood_. Period. Easy. Now, though.

Even when I was a human, I didn't have the array of choices that were presented to me today. Ingredients that turned into _other_ foods. Foods that were good for my body. Foods that were bad. Foods that caused reactions like indigestion or caffeine highs. Foods I couldn't eat raw, foods that were _supposed_ to be eaten raw. Foods I didn't like the taste of. Foods I loved the taste of. I still followed Bella and Esme around the grocery store with fascination as I gawked at the sheer multitude of it all. _How did they know what to get? How do they know what's good?_

In an effort to be efficient, I took two of the slices of pizza and pressed them together into a triangular-shaped sandwich and was chewing on my creation over the breakfast bar when Rosalie wandered into the kitchen. She started to speak, but her mouth moved too quick for my eyes to catch.

"What?" I said around a bite of food.

Her beautiful face twisted into disgusted scowl. "Can you at least chew and swallow before talking?" _Can you…chew…swallow…talk…_

"What are you even doing in here?" _The most unused room in the Cullen household._

She held up both of her hands, both of which were covered in car grease. "Goo Gone is in the kitchen."

I watched her as she moved to the sink and started scrubbing her her hands in the faucet, moving so intensely, I thought she was going to grind them into dust. Her mouth moved like she was talking, but it was turned down to the sink and I couldn't see her.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and turned. "I heard your bad dream last night." She said as dried her hands. "You have to cool it with the _girlish_ screams."

"At least I _can_ dream." I grumbled.

Her face twisted into a hard scowl. "I can't wait until Emmett and I leave for Alaska." She said. "And then I don't have to _smell_ you anymore."

"Can Alaska keep you?"

"What? What?" She held her hand behind her ear in mocking.

The sting of her insult raised goose pimples on my arms. I just glared at her as she stormed out of the kitchen. Nobody in my family knew – with the exception of Bella – how much I was truly struggling with being deaf.

And I would never tell them, either, for the same reasons I didn't ask them to learn sign language for me. _I_ was the lucky lotto winner of fate. _I_ was the one who got to gain their humanity, _their soul_ back. I was getting the second chance to grow old in the sun while they stood forever in their frozen state between the worlds of the dead and the living. And they all looked at me like Rosalie did - with an ache of jealousy, sadness and longing deep in their color-changing eyes.

Hearing loss was a small price to pay when I had a million blessings to count now.

I sighed, pitched the pizza crust in the trash and headed back towards my bedroom to finish packing my music. Jasper intercepted me before I could get to the stairs, one of the toy _Guitar Hero_ guitars hanging around his neck, his long, blond hair finger-combed off of his forehead. "Wanna rematch?" He asked, offering the other controller.

I, the reigning _Guitar Hero_ champion of the Cullen household, had yet to be dethroned, even as a lowly human. Both Jasper and Emmett saw this as personal affronts to their dignity and usually I would be pretty exciting to show them up. _Again._ But, I wasn't sure if I was in the mood at the moment. "I don't know."

"Edward," He rolled his head back, in what I assumed was a groan. "Come on." He pushed his powers onto me, turning down the sullenness and turning up the excitement.

"Where's Emmett?" I asked. Not that they liked to fight or play games with me when I _was_ vampire. They viewed my telepathy as cheating. But, now both of my brothers avoided me most of the time. Emmett because I bored him. Jasper because I smelled good.

"Hunting with Esme."

I rolled my eyes and took the other guitar. "Okay, fine."

Alice was sitting cross-legged on the couch, a book in her hands. She glanced up at me, her mouth moving – I guessed in greeting – before turning back to her book.

Jasper started the game. 'Through the Fire and the Flames' by DragonForce – the hardest song at the hardest difficulty - started to play on the screen. My fingers moved automatically over the buttons on the guitar controller. I hummed along to myself with the song. I wasn't a _video game_ person, per se, preferring books over other pieces of media. But, _Guitar Hero_ was a rare exception. I fell into a four-month obsession with the game, getting the highest scores that were possible on every song.

We were about to get into the three-minute long solos – the fun part - when I noticed that Jasper had stopped playing all together, the ribbon of buttons going untouched. I grinned and turned around. "Have you given up?"

He was talking to Alice, a hard scowl on his face. Alice's book laid abandoned on the floor and her fingers pressed to her temples. She shook her head back and forth.

"What's going on?" I asked, but nobody turned to talk to me. They just filed out of the living room towards the dining room. I took off the guitar and threw it on the couch before following them into the dining room. "Guys?"

Emmett and Esme came in from the kitchen, followed on their heels by Rosalie, whose hands were dirty with car grease again. Emmett had blood splattered on his shirt and in his hair from his recent hunt. Esme looked concerned as she looked between the faces of her children. I watched as they talked back and forth in a huddle with Jazz and Alice, everything they said incomprehensible to me. Jasper looked like he was starting to get annoyed with the whole conversation and Alice shook her head back and forth, her arms crossing.

I sat down at the dining room table with a sigh and picked at the small imperfections in the wood. I guessed that if they wanted me to know what was going on, they'll tell me. Or maybe when Bella came home, I could ask her. I chewed on my lower lip, feeling frustration heat up my face. I sq

 _Bzz. Bzz. Bzz._

My left hearing aid vibrated in my ear canal and on my head in an infuriating cadence to alert me that it was about to run out of power. I pulled it out and clicked it off, but not before noticing everyone had turned to stare at me, their arguing ceasing. Apparently, my hearing aids also made a sharp beeping noise, but I couldn't hear it. "Everything alright?" I asked.

"Peter and Charlotte are visiting." Esme said and signed, fingerspelling both of their names.

I felt my brows furrow in confusion. Peter and Charlotte, Jasper's old companions from the Mexican coven, had visited our home before and it had never been an issue in the past. "Why does that warrant a family meeting?"

Everyone's expressions grew worried, except for Rose and Jasper. Jasper's scowl deepened and Rosalie just rolled her eyes.

"Because the last time they were here; you were a vampire." Rosalie said and put her hands on her hips, staining her shirt. "Dumbass."

I felt my lips purse as I tried to find a line of logic to follow. "Peter and Charlotte won't hunt _me_." _Right?_ My fingers twitched towards my phone in my jeans pocket, an ember of worry glowing in me over Bella's safety.

"We're not concerned about _that_." Esme said, her hands stopping in sign, forcing me to focus on her lips to catch what she was saying. "But, if it gets out that there is a cure that turns vampires into humans and it gets back to the Volturi…"

"Oh," I managed. The Volturi - our unofficial royal, ruling family. They enforced secrecy as the first and only rule in our vampire world. Any humans that knew were promptly exterminated. And they weren't a group of people to make exceptions.

"They're not going to tell anyone." Jasper said, his scowl still on his face. "Peter and Charlotte hate the Volturi as much as we do."

"I don't see…" Alice said, but her face turned to the ground, so I couldn't get the last part of her sentence.

"When are they coming?" I asked.

"Tonight."

It was too late for Bella and I to leave. And even then, they would smell us all over the house. I looked between all of them. "If we explain it to them and ask it to keep it to themselves, will they, Jazz?" I asked.

"Of course." Jasper said, his arms crossing. "That's what I've been saying."

Alice's lips pursed. "…be okay." Was what I caught, but I assumed it was in agreement with Jasper.

"Carlisle can do it." Esme said with a couple of slow nods. "He'll be able to put it diplomatically without offending."

Jasper brightened then. "I haven't seen Peter and Charlotte since last winter. I hope Peter will be in the mood to jam." He started to air guitar.

Rosalie rolled her eyes again and said something as she stomped back towards the garage. Emmett followed behind her.

I watched everyone else float out of the dining into different parts of the house, wincing with the new headache that started to pound right behind my eyes.


	3. More Than Enough

_Bella - 2009_

My truck's engine light went on as I threw it into park in front of the Cullens' household. I banged on the dash to see if that would change it, but the little light stayed lit and still - _mocking_ me. Edward was looking for every and any excuse to buy me a new car - something shiny and silver with a price tag that rivaled a middle-class house.

And my truck just delivered one on a silver platter for him.

I grumbled to myself as I grabbed the dollar store bag from the passenger seat that had the hearing aid batteries Edward texted me to grab on my way back and slammed the door of my truck in a poor attempt of corporal punishment for _betraying_ me. _Maybe I could have Rosalie take a look before Edward finds out._ I thought to myself as I made my way up the portico steps the Cullen household.

I grumbled about stupid old trucks all the way to the front door, but froze solid when I opened it to live folk music.

Two strange vampires – a stocky blond man and an Alice-sized woman with white hair - were surrounding Edward's piano with Jasper. The woman was strumming an acoustic guitar next to the man who was playing on Edward's piano. Jasper had his fiddle and they all played together, with the two strangers singing in harmony along with the song.

The other Cullens – with the exception of Edward - were standing around watching them, captivated. Even Rosalie seemed to enjoy the music, and I only ever heard her listen to angry rap. Alice had her fingers laced under her chin as she watched Jasper, admiration in her eyes.

I watched in shock until they finished their song with a round of applause.

Carlisle cleared his voice during their pause to turn the attention on himself. "Peter, Charlotte," He said and motioned to me. "I want to introduce you to Bella, Edward's wife."

The two vampires' eyes snapped to me and their color made me press flat against the door. They were a deep red. Crimson. The color of blood. The color of their very _human_ diet. My heart stopped for a full beat and then tore off in my chest like it was running a marathon.

Charlotte darted over to me at vampire speeds, swinging her guitar to her backside before gathering me in a quick hug against her cold body. "It's very nice to meet you." She said with a southern twang that was thicker than Jasper's. "I'm so glad Edward's found a mate. He seemed so…high strung the last time we were here."

Peter just turned and waved. "Howdy."

"Nice to meet you." I managed with a smile.

I _did_ marry into a family of vampires. I guess meeting friends who didn't follow the same 'vegetarian' diet as the Cullens were inevitable.

"These are friends of Jasper's from his previous coven." Carlisle explained.

Charlotte laughed, her hand still on my arm. "It's a bit more complicated than that. You can say we were siblings before Jazzy decided that he didn't like the taste of humans anymore." She looked at me. "We shared a mother."

I gulped slightly, knowing that _mother_ was probably not the same definition to a vampire as it was to a human.

"Ah, yes." Peter laughed from his piano bench. "I almost forgot. Guess who invited us to visit."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Maria."

Charlotte streaked back to the piano. "Hey, now. She seemed very apologetic when she called."

"Are you going to go?"

Peter shrugged. "Might as well go pay the ole' heifer a visit."

They all burst into laughter at that.

I took this cue to make my leave. I wanted to find Edward and assumed he was in his room, since he wasn't apart of the audience. I climbed the stairs with my grocery bag as Jasper's guests started another song - the piano, guitar, and fiddle blending together with their voices.

I found Edward sitting on his floor, surrounded by his mess of music. His expression was sullen as he held a cassette case up and inspected it. I flipped his lights on and off a couple of times to get his attention and then walked over and dropped the shopping bag in his lap.

"Thanks," He said flatly and put the batteries to the side. I noticed that both of his hearing aids were out and sitting on his nightstand. He didn't ever take them out unless he was showering or sleeping.

"Are you okay?" I asked in sign as I sat down in front of him.

He shrugged, his eyes dropping back to his lap. "I'm great."

"Edward," I said and tapped his arm. He didn't look at me though. He just pressed his face against his other fist and fingered a Ramones record that sat next to his knee. I leaned forward and forced my face under his gaze. "What's wrong?"

He sighed and looked up at me. "Nothing."

"Well, it's obviously not nothing." I signed.

"Are they still playing music down there?" He asked.

I nodded, feeling my eyebrows pull in confusion. "Is that what's bothering you? The music?"

He scowled, his face blushing. Emotions sent color right to his cheeks, lighting up his freckles and contrasting against his green eyes. He got redder than _me_ now. "It's…" He sighed, his shoulders slumping. "You know that's the first time my piano's been touched since I've gotten home?"

"Edward," I started, signing when I could. "If you don't like them playing your piano, then tell them. Your family will listen to you."

"I know." He snapped and picked up the record and then threw it back down on the floor in frustration. "That's not…it."

I cupped his face. "Then, what is it?"

He just shook his head and averted his eyes to look out of the window that made up the south wall. "It's nothing."

I sighed. I knew it had to do with him being deaf and it had to do with his family. I just didn't understand where the disconnect was. He was deaf, so they should adapt to him, right? But, they didn't. I looked around at his music collection. I hated that his family didn't _see_ it. Or maybe they did and they just chose to ignore it. I hated that he felt like he couldn't talk to them about it.

I knocked the Ramones album out of the way and climbed into his lap, forcing his hand around my waist and my forehead against his. I was so close to his face that I could see all the different shades of green in his eyes and the ring of gold that surrounded his pupils. "I love you," I said and massaged the hollows under his ears. "Whether you can hear me or not."

That got me a tiny smile. "I love you, too."

He kissed me and his lips soft and warm against mine – a perfectly matched pair. He pulled away like he was going to say something, but instead his eyes traced down to my wishbone necklace my mom got me when I was twelve. He fingered it for a couple of moments in silence.

"I was wondering," He started. "About how soon you wanted to go to Arizona?"

"Why?" I signed.

"I think I need to get away for a couple of days." He glanced towards the window that made up the south wall. It was twilight, but you really couldn't tell behind the clouds what time of day it was. "Go someplace with some sun."

I rubbed his upper-arm. "We can go anytime you want."

He inhaled a deep breath. "How about…tomorrow?"

"What?" I signed.

He picked up his cell phone and navigated with one hand to a confirmation screen of some sort. "I got us plane tickets. We leave tomorrow at noon and we will be back Tuesday evening."

Confusion and disbelief rang my voice up high, but he couldn't hear it. "But, my mom isn't moving there until next month."

He shrugged and flipped to a different screen on his phone. "Then it'll just be the two of us. I got us a hotel too, one that has an _amazing_ pool." He said, his lopsided grin finding its place on his face.

"What about class?"

"Bella, stop being so practical for once." He chuckled. "You are _leagues_ ahead of anyone in class, including me. I don't think missing one day is going to kill your grade."

I felt my lower lip find its way between my teeth as I studied my husband's face. I wondered, briefly, if the bad dream from last night had anything to do with his mood today, his desire to suddenly skip town. Edward was a worrier, but I had never seen him so _distraught_ before. And I knew that he was still new to the dreaming and sleeping thing, but still - he was having a full blow _panic attack_ on his bathroom floor. His wide, terrified eyes had haunted me all day.

Maybe a couple of days out of the routine we had built these last couple of weeks would be good for him. Maybe get him out of his head and give him a temporary break from the tension headaches and his constant requests to get his family to repeat themselves. And Phoenix would be fun this time of year. Hot, but the pool would be nice, at least.

"Okay," I finally said, pressing my forehead against his again. "Let's go to Phoenix."

* * *

I glared at the check engine light of my truck as I pulled into Charlie's driveway, trying to imagine myself behind the wheel of a Mercedes Benz and couldn't. Maybe if it came down to me having to get a new car, I could convince him to get something modest – a Honda or a Jeep or something.

I had decided that since I was going to be leaving for a couple of days, that I should stay over at my father's house tonight so I could pack and get ready. Not my preference, as my favorite place to sleep was right in the warm arms of Edward. Sleeping at Charlie's had turned cold and lonely.

I remembered to pull off my wedding ring before I walked in, slipping it in the front pocket of my jeans. It suddenly felt like it weighed a million pounds there, pulling me to the ground and making it hard to walk through the door.

"Bells?" He called.

I moved towards the kitchen, smelling the spice of the enchiladas I made earlier today for him and hearing ESPN playing on the television. "Yeah, it's me." I dropped my stuff on the dining room table.

"I thought you were staying over at Edward's tonight?" He asked as he removed the plate of enchiladas from the microwave and then limped over to the fridge and fished out a can of beer.

Charlie wasn't enthused with the fact that I had started sleeping over at Edward's for most nights during the week, but he silently acquiesced on the facts that Edward almost died and I was going to be nineteen this year and could make decisions for myself.

When I told him I got married in Japan, though, I assumed that he would change his attitude on my maturity level.

"No," I said as I leaned against the counter as I watched him make himself dinner. "I have to pack." I started quietly.

"Pack?" He asked, shooting me a questioning look. "Pack for what?"

"Edward surprised me with a trip to Phoenix." I said and drummed my fingers on my leg.

" _Phoenix_?" Charlie said with a disgusted sneer. He wasn't a fan of Arizona. He thought it was too hot and dry. He didn't like that most signs were written in Spanish first and then English. It was exactly why my mother moved us there when I was a baby - so he wouldn't try and follow.

I shrugged and crossed my arms. "He wants me to show him around."

Charlie narrowed his eyes at me. "Are you thinking about moving there now that Renee is moving back?"

I felt myself blush and I rolled my eyes. "No, Dad. Edward wouldn't leave his family."

He made a short _hrrmph_ and moved towards the living room with his plate, his gait and step slow and labored after being shot two months ago. I followed and watched him settle in his lounge chair and pull the footrest up. "Are you sure about that?"

"Dad," I started, feeling the heat in my cheeks. "Edward almost _died_ of _cancer._ His family isn't going to let him get too far out of their sight."

"What about you?"

"What about me?" I challenged.

He made a face. "You and Edward aren't the same person." He said. "While it's probably hard to believe in your love-struck, teenaged brain of yours - you _can_ do things for yourself."

I opened my mouth to speak. _I married Edward_. Three words. So easy. It took more effort to order coffee at Starbucks. It would be so easy to get it over with. And then it would be out there and I could officially move in with the Cullens. No more back and forth.

And what would really happen? Charlie would get red in the face and yell at us for a couple minutes, probably give Edward an empty threat. Tell me that I would have to tell Renee. And then what? It would be over.

I knew all of this, and yet I choked _every_ time I tried to get the words out. Like I was suddenly being waterboarded and forced to talk around the torture.

The ring in my pocket started to feel like it was on fire.

"I am thinking for myself." I said firmly and started for the stairs. "And I'm not moving to Phoenix."

"I saw your bag of stuff for the Goodwill." Charlie said.

I froze at the first step, my face draining of color. Very, _very_ slowly, I had started going through my worldly possessions, so when I _did_ get around to telling Charlie that Edward and I were married, it would be a quick and painless getaway.

"I'm going through some things." I shrugged and turned to ascend the stairs back to my room. "Old things."

"Bells?"

I froze again. "Yes, Dad?"

"You would tell me you were planning on leaving, right?" His voice had grown timid, like he was afraid of my answer.

I turned and smiled at him. "Of course. But, I'm not going anywhere." I assured. "We already paid for our first semester of college."

He relaxed then, a sigh blowing out of him. "I still can't believe you're passing up UW." He took a stab at his dinner. "For Peninsula."

UW was the only college I managed to get my transcripts and application to in the turbulent six months of being pursued by Russian vampires, watching Edward slowly deteriorate from his own venom, and attempting to pass high school. It had also been the only college that accepted me. Charlie was very disappointed when I told him that my first semester was going to be part time community college instead of UW.

"Well, Edward…"

He waved his hand. "I know. I know. Taking it easy for Edward's sake."

I rolled my eyes. "Dad…" I groaned.

"I am very happy that he is okay," He said. "He's also a lot more pleasant now that he can't hear me tell him off for taking you away from me."

"Dad!" I scolded, feeling the heat rise in my face.

He just laughed at me, which quickly faded when the theme song for _Highly Questionable_ started on ESPN.

* * *

"Bella," Edward said. "You're going to get it in my eye."

"I'm almost done." I said back, my hands busy massaging sunscreen onto his face. "Don't move."

I was very worried over Edward's skin. It was so pale and soft and beautiful and his fair complexion screamed 'sunburn.' He assured me he was fine, but he didn't know how intense the Arizona sun could get.

"Okay," I said once I was satisfied. "You're sunproof."

He rolled his eyes at me.

We were still in the air conditioning of the baggage claim of Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. I honestly could not believe I was here again. I looked around at the southwestern décor and the art pieces – the overlapping browns and tans and red. The last time I was here, I was trying to escape so I could unknowingly run into a trap set by a homicidal vampire. That seemed like a distant, hazy nightmare now.

" _What_ are we going to do first?" Edward said as he started to move outside. He wasn't looking at my face, so I guessed his question was rhetorical and that he already knew _exactly_ what we were going to do first. I laced my fingers with his as we walked outside.

Washington's summers were pleasant, but still moist and cool. This heat socked you in the face. For those unprepared for its intensity, it could be a little too much – like stepping into a hot oven. For me, it reminded me of my childhood. I sucked a deep breath and let the heat wash over me.

And the sun overhead bathed everything in light and turned it pale. I started walking towards it, eager to get under its rays when I was yanked back by the hand I was holding with Edward.

I turned around. Edward stood frozen in the shade of the airport overhang, an almost panicked look on his face. I whipped my head around on the curb of the pickup area of the airport. _He must've saw something._ For a split second I even thought _or heard something._ But, that thought was banished as it was created. Edward couldn't _hear._ Not anymore.

But nothing was out of the ordinary. There was a family welcoming each other, Spanish flying quickly between them. Another couple loaded luggage in the back of a Toyota.

"Everything alright?" I signed to him and then grabbed his arm, my brows furrowing in concern. I hoped he wasn't having another panic attack.

That snapped Edward out of whatever fear gripped him momentarily. He looked at me, his eyes intense. "The sun." He said and motioned in front of him. "I'm not used to walking right into it."

"You've been in the sun before." I signed.

"I know." He looked at his shoes. "But, not with people around. Instinct told me to keep to the dark."

I grabbed his hand and dragged him – something I used to not be able to do – outside of the shade into the sun. The heat tickled my skin and the intense temperature change sent a shiver down my spine. "Nothing to worry about." I signed to him.

He looked at his arms like he was afraid he was going to suddenly start sparkling. Once he was satisfied that he was _completely_ human - even in the 102-degree weather - he grinned at me. His eyes shone brilliantly in the orange light and his freckles intense on his face. "This is nice." He tipped his face up to the sky.

"Right?" I asked and then pulled his chin down when I watched his eyes open. "Don't stare at the sun, though."

He laughed again and then sneezed.

"You sneeze when you look at the sun?" I asked in shock. Every once in awhile, the whole Edward-turned-back-into-a-human-thing threw me for a loop. This was one of those times.

He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and laughed. "I guess so."

We grabbed our rental car – a Corvette, because Edward's love for the fast and furious didn't die with his vampire form - and drove to the hotel. The resort was a fancy, multi-building one made out of white stucco with a Spanish colonial motif to it. There was a golf course that cut through the middle and a waterpark that dominated one side. It looked _expensive_ and way too excessive.

I inspected the lavish Kokopelli artwork in the marble lobby as I made my way with Edward to the front desk. I watched him check in, a black American Express card pass from his hand to the nice clerk. I blinked once and then twice, feeling a little dizzy all of a sudden. Edward had a black Amex card? Didn't only rock stars and CEOs carry those? _How much money did the Cullens have?_

The clerk opened a brochure on the counter. "Your room is in building two here." She circled a white square. She then poked at different landmarks, circling where the restaurants were and the hours of the waterpark. I didn't really pay attention to her, instead focusing on the fact that my husband was carrying around a limitless credit card and whipping it out like it was nothing. I caught the tail end of a question and watched the clerk look up at Edward expectantly.

Edward, in turn, looked down at me, his eyes wide with perplexity. The clerk's mouth was turned down towards the counter the whole time. He didn't get any of what she said.

Oh, crap. I didn't either. Guilt twisted my stomach. I needed to pay better attention. "Can you repeat that? We didn't get the question."

The clerk smiled. At least she was being patient with the deaf guy and his spaced out wife. "Did you want to valet your car or park yourself?"

"Valet or no?" I fingerspelled 'valet' for him.

"Oh, yes please."

They bellhopped our luggage and offered to drive us in one of the many golf carts to our room, but we decided to walk instead. I kept my eyes on Edward, who seemed to be enjoying the sunshine, his face turned up towards it as we walked around the edge of a large courtyard. I chewed hard on my thoughts while we strolled down one of the many pathways that snaked around the resort grounds.

The primary one being that damned credit card. I didn't know why that was bothering me so much. I already knew the Cullens had money. I searched how much Aston Martin Vanquishes cost. And Porsches. And BMW M3s. The answer: _a lot._ Enough to buy a nice house. Multiple years of Charlie's salary as the Chief of the FPD. Enough to go to a four-year university about seven or eight times. And that was just _some_ of their _cars._ I knew they had a lot, and while I didn't like Edward spending money on me, it never bothered me _before_ how much the Cullens had.

But, _I_ was a Cullen now.

My palms started to sweat. I was actually freaking out over the fact that I had married into a rich family. I was freaking out over what people would _think_ when they found out _._ I wasn't a gold-digger, but that's what people would assume when we – two teenagers – show up to places in a luxury car carrying Louis Vuitton luggage. _Damn it, Alice._ I cursed. _You can't just shop at Target like the rest of the population?_

And how much did this trip cost? Last minute airfare _couldn't_ be cheap. And then there was the rental car and this resort that was like a Disneyland for people who make plastic surgery a pastime. It was _too_ much. Way _too_ much.

"Your hair looks really lovely in the sun." The voice of an angel said from my side.

I crashed down to earth and looked at my husband, who was staring down at me with puppydog-like adoration in his brilliant eyes. I made an effort to keep myself together. " _My_ hair?" I smiled as I reached up and ran my fingers through his. Even as a human, he still didn't need any product to keep his hair amazing. "Your hair looks like spun copper."

His expression changed when he noticed mine. I shouldn't have been surprised. He noticed everything. "Are you alright?"

 _Just having a mild panic attack over the contents of your bank account._ "I'm fine." I signed. "Just a little tired."

"Let's get to the room." He said. "And then we can check out the pool."

We arced around the courtyard, following a pathway towards where the map said our building was. Edward stopped suddenly, almost yanking me off of my feet by the hand he was holding. The second time today.

"You gotta warn me when you do that." I protested as I righted myself and turned around.

But his eyes weren't on me. They were on a wedding that was about a hundred yards away in the middle of the gigantic courtyard. The wedding arch a beautiful exposed beam of dark wood with fluttering, gauzy material hung around it, framing the mountains that ran around the edge of the Phoenix valley.

I looked up at Edward, whose mouth had turned down at the corners. I touched his arm and his eyes fell down to me. "What's wrong?" I signed.

"I wish I could've given you that." He motioned to the procession.

I looked back at the wedding – at the over the top floral decorations and the white dress the bride was in and the arch – and while _pretty_ , all I saw were dollar signs. Everything screamed _excessive_. "It's too much." I signed back. "Besides, I wouldn't trade our wedding for the world."

His eyes rolled. "Yes, a nasogastric tube is always romantic."

"Edward," I groaned his name. "Our wedding was perfect because it was _our_ wedding."

"I know." He said and picked up my hand. "You just _deserve_ better. I always feel like like I am coming up short with you."

I shook my head, not even believing my ears. " _What?_ You are the _best_ thing that has ever happened to me." I grabbed his face, feeling my heart sputter hard in my chest at the touch. "You will _always_ be more than enough."

"I love you, Bella Cullen." He kissed me, sweet and warm and soft.

The suite reminded me a lot of the Cullen house, with a slight southwest twist in the décor. It was bright and airy with white furniture and minimalistic details. I kicked off my sandals next to where the bellhop dropped our luggage and padded to the bedroom.

"Holy king-sized bed, Batman." I mumbled. The bed was gigantic and looked like a cloud I could sink into and never want to come out of.

I still heard cash register noises in my head at the sight of it all. _Cha-ching._ An unease twisted my stomach and I bit my lip. Maybe if I _knew_ how much he actually had, it would help me come to grips with reality a little. Like, maybe it wasn't that bad. Maybe he was a really good couponer or something.

Edward had followed me into the bedroom, dutifully dragging in the luggage, looking like a high fashion model in the process.

"Edward," I started, my hand coming out to touch his arm so I could grab his attention. "I have a question, but I'm afraid you'll be offended."

His fingers brushed my hair off of my shoulder. "You can ask me anything, my love."

I suddenly felt like I was a little kid, asking my parents about something that was _way_ too adult and over my head, embarrassed and anxious about the the answer I was going to receive. "How much…money do you have?" I signed and said slowly, dropping my eyes at the end.

His fingers lifted my chin, his eyebrows furrowing as he traced all over my face. "Why do you ask?"

"Your credit card is black." I said, feeling a little ridiculous for pointing that out. "I thought…only famous people had those kinds of credit cards."

Instead of offense, like I assumed, his face lit up with laughter.

"Why is that so funny?" I shook my head, confused.

But, he had turned to his carry-on bag and pulled out his laptop, not hearing my question. "Well, do you want to take a look at just my assets or the family's in general?"

"Assets?" I squeaked. "What?"

He pulled me by the hand and we sat down at the glass dining room table that had a planter of succulents in the middle. "I own a couple of pieces of property." He said and navigated around on his computer. "My family home in Chicago, an apartment in Manhattan-,"

"You own an apartment in Manhattan?" I asked, my voice ringing in shock and my hands jerking with my signs. I blanked for a second on the sign _for_ Manhattan, instead fingerspelling 'NY.'

"I bought it in the sixties when I was going to Columbia." He explained simply before turning back to his computer. "I dabble in stocks. Not as much as Alice does, though. Most of my income comes from oil." He looked at me, a smile still playing on his lips.

"Oil?" I didn't know that sign, so I just said it.

"I own a good chunk of Alaska, where I have a couple of drills." He shrugged.

"What's a 'good chunk?'"

"About seventy thousand acres." He said and turned around his computer to show me an electronic statement of some sort. _Edward Cullen_ was the addressee. I found the balance section and started to count off zeroes, my voice coming out squeakier and squeakier with each zero I read off.

"My husband is an eighteen-year-old oil mogul?" An idea occurred to me and I pressed my forehead into the heels of my hand. "I'm the _wife_ of an eighteen-year-old oil mogul?"

"You're bothered over the fact that I have a couple of million dollars and not the fact that I used to be a vampire?"

I frowned. _Well, when you put it that way..._ "I'm not used to _money."_ I tried explaining, my hands still on my forehead. It felt like they had been permanently soldered there. "You've _seen_ Charlie's house. Sensibility is apart of my gene coding."

He laughed at me. "I'm glad we're having this conversation."

I felt my brows furrow in confusion. "Why is that?"

His expression softened and his bright green eyes dropped to the table. "Before Jacob came out and things were looking…gruesome." He winced a little. "I put my estate into your name so that you would be financially set once I…"

I cut him off, unwilling and unprepared to relive those moments. "You put me on your bank account?" I asked, my hand finding his forearm.

He nodded. "So, I guess technically _you_ are the eighteen-year-old oil mogul."

That sent my hands to my forehead again. Edward just laughed and pried one off so he could hold it.

"I have _one_ more thing for you," He said. "As long as it won't send you into hysterics."

"I can't guarantee anything at this point." I managed.

He stood up and pulled something out of his back pocket - his worn leather wallet that looked about as old as he technically was. He pulled a credit card out and handed it to me. "Not my preferred name for you." He rolled his eyes. "If Charlie is destined to be the last to know about our marriage, can the first be the Social Security office?"

I inspected the card, holding it in the palm of my hand. It was gold and made out of metal. My name was emblazoned on the front. _Isabella M Swan._ The hand that was pressed to my forehead dug a little harder. "You're giving me credit card?"

He shook his fist up and down. "Of course."

" _Why_?"

"In case you need it." He said. "For anything you want."

"I have money." I tried handing it back to him.

"You have a college textbook and some McDonald's." He quoted me back to me, my favorite lopsided grin splitting over his face. _At least he is having fun with this._ I thought sardonically.

"It's too much, though."

"Bella," He whined, his beautiful face twisting into a pout. All of a sudden all my moxie whooshed out of me. All of a sudden I just wanted to fix his pout back into his smile. _How did he do that?_ "Just trust me to take care of you, okay?" His hand grabbed mine and forced my fingers to curl around the card.

I dropped my hands, and the card on the table. "Okay." I conceded lowly. "But, I'll only use if I _have_ to."

"What?"

I repeated myself.

"That's all I ask."

I dropped the card onto the table, the metal clattering against the glass. I winced at the sound. "I guess if we are talking about money, I have a confession to make."

"What?"

"My truck's check engine light turned on." I signed.

"Bella," His voice rose in octave and his eyebrows pulled together in concern. "You've been driving around with your check engine light on?"

"It just happened yesterday." I signed quickly.

"You know what this means, right?" His mouth started to tug up in the corners.

"A new car?" I signed small and hesitantly.

"A new car." His eyes flashed as he pushed himself back from the table, running back into the bedroom in a streak of red hair and pale skin. "Pool time!" He yelled as he ran.

I just placed my hand over my new credit card and laughed at my husband.

* * *

 **So, I live in FL now, but I grew up in AZ (Tucson, but close enough I guess?) I'm super duper excited to have them in AZ for a couple of chapters. Let's see what kind of shenanigans these two can get into, right? (Drunk Edward anybody?) Anyway, I love you readers. Be sure to review and tell me what you think.**


	4. Community

_Edward - 2009_

Despite Bella's best efforts, I sunburned.

"Your poor, beautiful skin." She signed as she rubbed sun lotion onto my shoulder. Her beautiful, brown eyes were shielded by sunglasses, but I watched her worry her lower lip.

"You know," I said, unable to hear myself since I left my hearing aids in the hotel room. "I'd rather burn than sparkle."

She smiled and pushed my chest and then moved to my back. We were at the gigantic resort pool. It was sunset, at the desert sky behind the mountains wove a tapestry of bright reds and oranges that faded into purples. It was breathtakingly beautiful. _I can't believe I'm here._ I looked around in shock. _In the sunshine with the love of my life._

Pain shot down my back and Bella's fingers moved to a particularly bad patch of sunburn. "Ouch," I hissed, feeling my skin throb. Another reminder of how human I was.

Bella walked back into my view, in front of the two-person lounge chair I was sitting on. "Sorry," She signed with both hands.

She was in a dark blue two-piece bathing suit that contrasted against her pale skin, making it look like fresh cream. The top plunged all the way down her neckline, accentuating each of her round breasts in the best of ways. It took all of my energy not to unabashedly gawk at her with my tongue out, panting like a dog. I _thoroughly_ kicked myself for not doing this as soon as my heart started to beat in my chest again.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me. She took a seat on my knee and hooked her arm around my shoulders, being careful around my burns. I looked at her and then looked at her chest, feeling my erection spring up in my loose swim shorts. I blushed, hard.

A waitress in a resort polo and shorts came by with a tray of drinks. Bella got some blended thing with an umbrella and a fruit garnish. I got a Sprite. I put down my drink and picked up hers to taste it. Coconuts and pineapple. _Mmm._

"So," Bella said, her empty hands signing. "I have a question."

"Would you look better in a Mercedes S-class coupe or a Bentley New Continental?" I teased. "The question is actually a trick. The answer is a Lamborghini Huracan."

She yanked her drink out of my hand. "I should've never told you my truck's light was on. That's all you're going to think about this whole trip now."

I looked down at her chest again. _Well it's not the only thing I'm thinking about._ "I was going to find out eventually." I argued, my hand rubbing up and down her arm. "And if you waited, you would only worry your poor, sick husband."

She stiffened and sip of her drink. "You're not sick anymore." I couldn't see her eyes, but by the way her lower lip quivered, she wasn't ready to make jokes about the strikes. The whole experience for me had been turning into a murky fog, like trying to remember my human memories when I turned into a vampire. And the fact that laughing in the face of death made me a bit…smug.

I rubbed her arm more briskly, eager to change the subject and bring her good mood back. "Okay, I'm sorry. What was your question?"

"I wanted to see if you thought about a major yet?" She asked.

Puzzlement puckered my eyebrows. "Why?" I hadn't declared when we signed up for classes, because I didn't have to. I was taking English Comp I and College Algebra, two very generic first classes. And ASL II, of course.

She shrugged. "Just curious, really."

"I don't know…" I started with a groan.

I ran through the degrees I _did_ have – seven of them in total. Academia was a pastime, a time waster as vampire. There wasn't much else to do but read and learn when you have all the time in the world. Philosophy, literature, pre-med, theology, history, chemistry, and a medical doctorate. I wanted to do music next. Maybe play for an orchestra or compose professionally. I had gotten accepted into Julliard in the past, but an overactive imagination had us moving before I could go.

But, I was deaf now. Unless I wanted to be another Beethoven, that pretty much took music completely off the table.

I looked at Bella. This degree was the one that _mattered,_ though. A career. Living and growing old. Doing something meaningful with my life. These were all brand new concepts to me.

"What about you?" I prompted, watching her chew on her lower lip.

"I've been giving it some thought…" She started with sign. "And I think I want to go into nursing."

"Nursing? Really?"

"Don't sound so shocked."

"Well," I argued. "I'm deaf, so I don't know what I sound like anymore." I looked at her face. "I thought you don't like blood?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line and I watched her do something that I hadn't seen her do in months – clench her fist so tight her fingernails cut into the palm of her hand. "I'm pretty desensitized now." She said, her knuckles going white.

My eyebrows furrowed into concern. I snatched her hand, and straightened her fingers out, letting my thumb run over the cool scar of James' bite on her wrist. _So many scars_. I gave her so many scars. The chill of guilt ran through my bones. "Enough to become a nurse?"

I think I offended her because she frowned. "You don't think I can do it?"

"No, it's not that." I said. "You can do anything, Bella. That's what makes you so amazing." I pressed her close to me. "You've just never mentioned nursing before."

"Well, I helped Carlisle revive you."

I pressed my lips to her shoulder. "You did."

"And I took care of you afterwards."

"You did." I winced. The first couple of days after I woke up were rough. I kept panicking because I couldn't hear _anything_ – no mental voices, no actual voices, no ambient noises. The silence pressing on me like a weight on my chest. My heart beat loud, I kept forgetting to take regular breaths. I felt all these new things: hunger, thirst, the sensation of having to go to the bathroom. _Pain_ , but not the pain of the strikes. New, weird pains. Like, when I sat on my butt for too long and my tailbone got sore, and when dust would get into my eyes and make them water, the deep ache of bruising on my arms and chest from IVs and CPR.

And I was emotional - which was embarrassing. Carlisle said it was my endocrine system trying to get back into regulating my hormones. My moods swung wildly, going from giddily happy to a weepy mess in seconds. I broke down on the plane ride home because I couldn't hear the stewardess ask me if I wanted a snack.

And Bella was there. She was always there to make me feel better. A comforting presence right by my side. I couldn't hear her voice or new what she was saying without her having to write it down for me, but she was there with her soft hands and her large brown eyes that shone with love for me.

"I liked being able to help you." She shrugged. "And I decided I could do that with other people - help them, you know? And I talked to Keiko about it and she loves her job."

I smiled at the mention of Jacob's happy, go-lucky girlfriend. "Keiko loves _everything_."

"True," Bella smiled. "But, she really, really loves nursing."

"I think you would make a good nurse." I nodded and pulled off her sunglasses so I could look into her eyes. "You're good at anything you put your mind to."

"Except for walking across flat surfaces." She smiled, her fingers moving to cup my face.

In a flash, I gripped her tight around the waist and swept her up into my arms. Her grip tensed around me and her mouth opened in what I guessed was a shriek. With a couple of steps, I jumped into the crystal blue of the pool. We detached from each other when we hit the water and I felt her push up to break the surface. I let myself linger a couple of seconds longer in the blue – reveling in the weightlessness.

I pushed myself to the surface, flipping my hair out of my face.

"I was thinking for you too," She signed and swam closer to me so she could wrap her legs around my body. "Have you thought about teaching?"

"Teaching?" I mimicked her sign and pressed her close to me.

"Yeah," She signed. "You have such a unique perspective of the world. I could see you teaching high school."

"But, I'm deaf."

"Then teach deaf students." She shrugged. "There are schools specifically for deaf kids. Teach there."

I pursed my lips at her, trying to imagine myself in front of a class, my hands signing with lessons to a roomful of kids who had hearing aids, just like me. "What would I teach?"

"Anything you want." She shrugged. "You're a genius in basically everything."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm hardly a genius, Bella."

"Could've fooled me."

I grinned at her and kissed her. Her body slid downward, grazing everything south of my hemline. I felt my fingers dig into her slightly and I groaned and pulled back. "Can we go back to the room?" I signed. "I've been watching you in that bikini all evening." I looked down at her breasts pressed up against my chest. "It's basically torturous how good you look."

Heat rose into her face, but she smiled wickedly and tightened the grip of her legs around me. "I'm torturing you?"

I nodded and chewed on my lip. "You have no idea."

Her fingers danced across my collarbone. "I should take advantage of this."

I pressed her closer to me, my breathing coming in rapid succession. She wiggled herself so she was positioned right over my erection, the thin material of our bathing suits the only thing keeping me from slipping into her right here and now. _Jesus Christ._ I groaned again. "What do you mean?"

"You can take me to the bedroom and have me anyway you wish, if…" She smiled, her hand slipping under water to run down the front of my stomach. "You agree to a modest, ordinary, low-priced car for me."

I sighed through my nose. "What do you have in mind?"

"Like a Honda? Maybe a Kia?"

"I'm not having my _wife_ drive around in a _Kia_." I said, offended. "We'll get you a Mercedes S-class."

"No, too much." She shook her head. Her hand slipped into my swim trunks, ran around my hips to the front and started to slowly stroke me. I gasped at the sensation.

"A Range Rover?"

"Nothing a Kardashian would drive." She said and got faster. I felt her nipples harden through the thin material of her top.

I pressed my lips together and stared her down, wracking my brain for ideas. She would shoot down a BMW. Maybe an Audi? Her brown eyes sparkled and she had a small smile, like she knew she had me cornered. "A Lexus." I tried.

She squeezed me as she thought about my counteroffer, causing a burst of fireworks in my head. "I could do a Lexus – sedan, base model, no bells."

"Fine," I breathed. I was going to explode if we didn't get back to the room. "A plain Jane Lexus. Can I take you back to the hotel room now?"

"And I get to choose the color."

I ran my nose across her collarbone. "Of course."

"Okay," She signed. "You can take me."

"Thank God."

* * *

The Phoenix Zoo was turning into the highlight of the whole trip.

The sun was blazing overhead. It was ridiculously hot out. 105 was the temperature that was forecasted on the news this morning, but it felt like it was hotter. But, that didn't stop us – or the hundreds of other zoo-goers – as we milled amongst the exhibits.

There was one advantage of the heat – Bella's lack of clothing. She was wearing denim cut-off shorts and a tight purple tank top. I liked hanging back as she approached the fences of exhibits to watch the muscles of her beautiful legs flexed as she stood on her tip-toes and the way her brown pony-tail swung behind her. Her face would light up with wonder when she watched the animals, her brown eyes shining.

"Edward," She fingerspelled my name so fast, that I caught only _'Ed'_ and _'rd.'_ "Look!"

I followed her finger to a monkey that was hanging by one foot overhead and giggled. He stared at us and stuffed a piece of fruit in his mouth. Most animals shied away or became defensive when I was a vampire, instinct telling them I was a deadly predator.

Not as a human, though. As a human, I could feed a giraffe by hand and feel his long purple tongue slobber all over my palm. There was photographic evidence of that, actually, courtesy of Bella.

"You're so handsome." She signed as she showed me the picture she took of me as we paused under the shade of a tree.

I looked at myself on the screen of her digital camera. Red lit up my face – half sunburn, half blush and it was split with wide grin as I watched the giraffe. I flipped to the next one. She took a picture of the both of us near the tiger pen. She kissed my cheek, her eyes closed as I beamed into the camera, my smile asymmetrical on my face and my hearing aids large on the sides of my head.

A hand shook in my peripheral and I turned to Bella, who was holding out a bottle of water. I traded her and looked around as I sipped on it. We had moved to a main pathway, a carousel moving with children on it sat on one side and elephants in a large grassy pen dominated the other.

"I think I want to go to the desert area next," She signed as she pointed on the map, her camera hanging from its cord around her wrist. "It's a hiking trail."

My stomach cramped slightly with hunger and I watched Bella look at it as I placed my hand over it. I guess it made a noise, because she laughed at me. I blushed with embarrassment. "We should probably get food first." I suggested.

"There's a snack bar down the way." She signed and then pointed. "I'm going to use the restroom and wash up and then we can go?"

"Sounds good." I smiled down on her.

She handed me her purse and her camera and I watched as she walked towards the ladies' room across the path.

I tucked her purse under my arm and started looking through the photos again, marveling over my lovely wife. Marveling over the fact that the sun reflected off my skin without causing me to reflect it around like a disco ball. I marveled over the flush in my cheeks. I marveled over how _human_ I looked now. How _alive._

 _How did I get this lucky?_

I felt something hit me from the back. Something hard and metal and forceful enough to throw me to the ground. My right knee caught most of my weight as I collapsed and then the butts of my hands caught the rest. I skidded across the pavement, the skin of my knees and hands catching on the road.

I laid like that frozen in shock, pain radiating from my knee. I looked up and saw Bella's purse about three feet away from me, the contents inside thrown around the pathway. I saw Bella's camera laying screen up, still on the picture I was looking at. Tears automatically prickled my eyes at the pain, but I forced them away. _What happened?_

There was a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to a stranger's face. She was dark complected with wild curly hair and dark freckles that started at her chin and splashed all the way up to her forehead. "Okay?" She signed at me.

I stared at her for a second as she signed "okay?" a couple of more times. "Are you hurt?" She tried. It took me a moment to realize that her mouth wasn't moving while she signed. She was just _signing._ My brows furrowed in confusion. _Are you deaf too?_

My bloody hand shakily came up and I signed back. "I don't know."

"Don't move. Okay?" She signed and stood up.

I carefully turned to see what hit me – a golf cart with the Phoenix Zoo's logo emblazoned on the side and cleaning materials in the storage compartment in the back. The driver was a middle-aged Hispanic male and he was arguing with a pear-shaped blonde girl. Her hands flew in sign too, but her mouth was moving as she argued with the employee. The other girl that asked if I was okay was standing next to her, signing angrily.

I looked at the palms of my hands. The pavement had taken off most of the skin at the bottoms and they bled heavily down my wrists. I took a look at my knee too – which looked about the same. All the road rash throbbed with my beating heart and I winced with each pulse.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to Bella's panicked face. "Edward," She said. "Are you okay? What happened?" She knelt down next to me.

"The golf cart hit me." I felt my eyebrows furrow. "The engine wasn't loud enough for me to hear to get out of the way."

"Are you okay?" She signed at me, her hands not as fluid as the girl that asked me the same question earlier.

"I think so." I said. "It mostly shocked me."

She looked up at the two girls who were still arguing with the driver. The blonde one turned to us and dropped to one knee. "We're getting an interpreter." She signed, her mouth moving as she spoke. "And an ambulance."

I felt heat rise to my face in embarrassment and I started to shift to get back to my feet. "That's not necessary. I'm fine."

"Edward," Bella said, her hand on my shoulder. "Don't get up if you're hurt."

"I'm okay," I insisted and got to my feet. My knee looked worse than it was. I watched the blood leak down from the wound and stain my sock. A note of anxiety flew through me and I looked around automatically for my vampire family. I pulled a hangnail a couple of weeks ago and Jasper had to leave the room. But it was just Bella and I and these two girls that used their hands instead of their words to communicate.

"We're still getting a manager." The blonde one signed as she got back to her feet

I looked at curly haired girl stare down the Hispanic zoo worker, her hands still flying in angry sign. She was short – _maybe_ five feet – but her wild hair and her angry signing made her seem bigger than she was.

And then started to notice the crowd that had started to gather around us. I felt heat flush my face and I automatically took a step back, feeling dizzy at all the eyes on me, at all of the attention. It went against everything I knew for the last eighty years to be out in the middle of the sun, standing in front of an audience, making a spectacle of myself.

My heart pounded hard in my chest and panic sent all the blood to my head. The dizziness turned into spinning and I felt my breathing pick up.

"Edward," Bella fingerspelled my name, her eyes wide with worry. "You should sit down."

I nodded and she pulled me to a bench that was a couple of feet away and sat down next to me, her hand rubbing my back as I forced air deep in my lungs, and watched my bloody hands shake as a wave of panic washed over me.

Another golf cart pulled up. A medic in a white polo and an older woman with a tight, red bun wearing a business suit with a clipboard in her hand got out and approached us.

The bald medic walked up and knelt in front of me. "Are you seriously injured?" He asked as he opened his kit and took out a roll of gauze.

"I don't think so." I managed between gasps.

The blonde girl approached the medic, her hand waving to get his attention. "Where is the interpreter?" The blonde one asked in sign and then turned to the lady with bun.

"It's okay," I assured, my heart still pounding at the stares we were receiving. "I'm learning how to read lips."

"Title III, section thirty-six, subsection three-hundred-three of the ADA says that you have to provide an ASL interpreter at the request the deaf person." The blonde one signed and spoke at the same time. "Those are reasonable accommodations."

"We don't have one available at the moment." The lady said, her eyes wide and scared of the blonde girl in her face. "But, we can have one come out."

"I can hear." Bella started, her hands signing hesitantly. "And interpret."

"Do you know how big of a lawsuit you could have on your hands?" The blonde one asked in sign. "Running over a deaf person? Not having an available interpreter? This has ADA compliance suit _all_ over it."

I tore my eyes away from them and leaned forward emergency airplane style to suck in deep breaths. The pounding in my head felt like a drum and I fought the urge to turn my hearing aids all the way up to try and drown it out with the sighs of ambient noise.

I felt Bella's hand on my arm and I looked up at her. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital? The medic thinks you're going into shock." She signed.

"No," I signed at her without speaking. "I'm just upset at all the people staring at me."

She looked up in surprise, like she had just noticed the crowd that had formed. "It's not that bad." She signed. "Everyone is just making sure you're okay."

"I can't have people staring at me." I signed back.

She nodded and her eyes flashing, understanding what I meant. _I'm not used to the attention._ She turned and started speaking to the medic and he nodded at her.

The panic attack started to subside and hesitantly straightened up to watch the driver, the lady with the red hair and the two signing girls all argue with each other.

"But, I honked." The driver said.

"He's _deaf_." The blonde one's face lit up red as she signed back. "Honking isn't going to do _shit_."

I looked back down as the medic worked over my knee, picking bits of gravel from it and cleaning it with gauze and antiseptic. I winced with the sting of alcohol.

"Your wound…" The medic started.

I waved a hand in his face. "Can you repeat that?"

Bell touched my arm. "He says that it isn't that bad." She said and signed. "But, if you are having pain, you should see a doctor."

"I'm fine." I assured. The pain had subsided into a dull ache. I expected I would probably sore tomorrow, but other than that, I would be just fine.

The medic handed me some gauze and I cleaned up my hands, flicking little rocks out of my skin and rubbing the dried blood off of my wrists.

I watched Bella take a clipboard from the woman with the bun. It looked like an incident report of some sort. They talked back and forth and then the woman handed something to Bella.

"What is it?" I asked.

"They gave us lifetime free admission to the zoo."

I felt my mouth twitch with a smile. "Did you tell them we don't live here?"

"Their lawyer is also going to give us a call when we get home." Bella signed.

"Oh," I looked at the lady, feeling like I was causing a ton of trouble. "I'm sorry. I didn't hear the golf cart. I wouldn't have been blocking the pathway if I knew it was coming."

"Don't apologize." Bella shook her head, her hand going to my back and the other signing. "You did nothing wrong."

 _But if I could hear,_ I thought, nausea twisting my insides as I looked at my scuffed up hands. _Then this never would've happened._

The medic finished and went back to the cart, followed shortly by the manager. Both carts drove away and we were left on the pathway - Bella, I and the two girls who were having a conversation with each other, Bella's purse in the hands of the dark haired girl, all the contents replaced.

I got to my feet and limped up to the two girls. Bella was on my heels. "Thanks for your assistance." I signed.

"No problem." The blonde one signed. "My name is Joy," The blonde girl fingerspelled her name with a twist of her wrist, like she was doing the Hawaiian 'hang loose' sign. "That's my girlfriend, Naomi." She fingerspelled her name and then twisted the 'n' sign next to her head. Naomi stepped forward and handed Bella's stuff back to her.

"Thank you." Bella signed.

"How did you know I was deaf?" I asked in sign language.

"We saw you signing to each other earlier." She signed with a smile. "Deaf people have a radar for finding each other." She pushed her hair back to reveal her hearing aids.

Naomi walked back to Joy's side, her hands moving wildly in signs I didn't know and her mouth twisting into a scowl.

"I'm sorry. I didn't get that." I signed. "I just went deaf in May and we're both still learning ASL."

Joy shook her head. "She's just bitching."

Naomi slapped Joy's arm and they signed at each other for a couple of moments. I watched Joy sign the words for "slow" and "sign." Naomi nodded, her mouth turning downward like she was piecing it all together.

Naomi turned back to us. "Names?" She signed, her eyebrows went up in question.

"Edward," I fingerspelled. "And this is my wife, Bella."

"Name signs?"

"What?"

Joy hit Naomi's arm and they signed at each other for another moment, her head shaking.

"Nice to meet you." She signed. "What are you doing later?"

"Later?"

Joy waved her hand to get our attention, her mouth moving as she signed. "As someone who doesn't know ADA laws," She started to tick off of her fingers. "feels bad for being hit by a golf cart, and doesn't have a name sign, we have a feeling that you've never actually hung out with fellow deaf people before?"

I looked between the two girls. I hadn't interacted at all with other deaf people, with the exception of my ASL teacher, Dan. "No."

Joy smiled, her fingers lacing with Naomi's with one hand and she signed with the other. "Well we're going to have to change that. Don't we?"

* * *

"Is this the place?" I asked. _Blue Bar_ was the sign that lit up in neon from the outside of the assuming building in Tempe.

Bella just shrugged, the skirt she was wearing swishing around her thighs. "This is the address they texted me."

I was apprehensive coming out. I didn't know these people. They just _happened_ to also be at the zoo with me. It was odd to me that they immediately acted like we were friends – jumping into help me at the zoo, inviting us out. We were deaf, sure. But, that's all I had in common with them.

Bella was the opposite. She was excited to meet people who were 'just like me.' But, they weren't like me. _No one_ was like me. But, she convinced me to go. "We can buy them a drink," She said. "As a thank you for helping you today."

And I wasn't nothing if not chivalrous.

We entered the club. It was quiet, since it was still early and we found the two girls sitting in a round corner booth with another man, signing flying quickly between them.

"Hey!" They both greeted in sign as we approached, scooting over to make room for us.

"I'm so glad you came out." Joy signed. "This is our friend, Ricky." Joy introduced the other person sitting at their table – a thin Hispanic guy with black, waxed back hair and hearing aids. "Edward and Bella." She introduced.

"You're deaf too?" I signed.

"Hard-of-hearing." He signed, his mouth moving as he spoke. "Although, if you ask my _abuela_ , I'm stone deaf." His eyebrows wiggled up and down. He shifted slightly to the right as he signed. " _'Ricardo, do the dishes_!'" He shifted back, his hand going behind his ear. "What grandma? I didn't catch that."

Joy and Naomi burst into laughter. Naomi banged her hand on the table. I looked at Bella, who was laughing too, her eyes closed and her hand over her mouth. I smiled gently, my fingers finding Bella's leg under the table.

"Are you guys from around here?" Joy asked with one hand as she sipped her drink with the other.

"Washington." Bella fingerspelled.

"You can actually just sign 'Washington.'" Joy said and then taught Bella the sign. Bella smiled as she showed her the local sign for 'Forks.'

"DC or state?" Naomi asked.

"State." I answered.

"Cool, cool." She signed. "I thought you maybe went to…" She made a sign I didn't recognize.

"What is that sign?" I copied it.

"Gallaudet." She fingerspelled. "It's a college for the deaf in DC."

"There's a college for deaf people?" I signed back, my eyebrows going up in surprise.

Joy and Naomi shared a glance. "Baby." They both signed at the same time and then beamed at me.

"Gallaudet is a great school." Joy signed. "Right in the middle of DC. Only admits deaf and hard-of-hearing students."

My eyebrows stayed furrowed. "What do they teach?"

Naomi shrugged. "Everything. They're a full university."

I watched Bella take control of the table with a wave, asking questions about Gallaudet. They patiently answered each one, a smile on their face. It was odd watching them talk so proudly about being deaf – talking about the art programs and the theater and famous people that went there. Like it was a _culture_ or something.

Naomi banged on the table and all eyes went to her. "They don't have name signs." She pointed to us.

Joy's eyes flashed. "Yes, we have to give them name signs."

"Wait, wait." Ricky signed. "You don't have a name sign?"

I looked between all of them and shook my head. I felt my shoulders fold a little and my heart speed up as their eyes all bore into me. "No," I signed.

"When did you go deaf?" Ricky asked.

"May."

"Your whole family is hearing?"

I shook my fist up and down in affirmation.

Ricky shook his head. "So, this really is your first step into the community?"

"I told you we had work to do." Joy signed.

"Baby." Naomi signed again. And I understood now why they signed that earlier. I was a baby Deaf person.

"Wow." Ricky signed. "Alright, let's do this."

I watched the three of them erupt into signing conversation, their hands moving too fluid and quick for me to keep up. Hand waving and bangs on the table to turn the attention to themselves as they talked.

I looked at Bella, who was taking this all in with her large brown eyes. She glanced up at me when she noticed that I was looking at her and smiled. "Are you having fun?" She signed.

I looked at all the faces _. Was I having fun?_ I was enjoying that I didn't have to ask them to repeat themselves. I was enjoying that I didn't have to hide being deaf. "I think so." I signed back.

"Okay," Joy finally turned back to us. "Your name is Edward." She twisted an 'e' shape in a circle above her ear and then turned to Bella. "And your name is Bella." She gave a 'b' shape and then turned it to her chin and signed 'sweet.'

Bella beamed and copied the sign for her name. "That's a lot easier than fingerspelling." She signed and then looked at me and signed my name, her brown eyes flashing. "Edward. I like it."

"Edward." I repeated my name sign. _I have a name sign._ "Bella." I signed her name next, smiling at her.

"Welcome to the club." Joy signed and lifted her drink.

Ricky banged on the table. "Best community _ever_."

"Damn straight." Naomi signed and held up her drink.

I looked between them. The only community I knew for the last century was the vampire one. And it wasn't a community, really. We were cordial to each other, but only just. We regarded each other as a threats. Threats to our food sources, threats to our territory, threats to those we loved. Large families of vampires like the Volturi or the Cullens or Denali clan were a rare exception to the rule. We weren't proud to be vampires. It just happened to be our lot in life.

And now, I was sitting at a table with three other individuals who were proud to be what they were defined by. Individuals who didn't even hesitate to bring me into their group as a friend, who weren't afraid to stand up for me. We were instantly bonded by on the simple fact that we couldn't hear.

I felt the corners of my mouth tug up in a smile when I realized that I could be like them. I could be _proud_ to be deaf.

A hand shook in my face and I looked at Naomi. "So, since you're a new Deaf person, you haven't heard any of the ASL jokes yet."

Joy rolled her eyes. "If you start telling Deaf jokes, I will kill myself." She wrapped an invisible noose around her neck and pretended to hang from it, tongue out and everything.

"Wait," Ricky waved his hand. "I have the perfect one."

"No," Joy begged, her lip pouting. "I've heard all of them a hundred times."

"Two men are signing at each other," Ricky started, completely ignoring Joy, who just slumped dramatically against the booth seat. "The first man asks 'what did your wife say when you got home late last night?' The second man answered 'she swore at me'" He mimicked a mouth chattering. "The first man asks 'what did you do then?' and the other man said," Ricky paused for the punchline, his eyes tracing around the table. "'I turned out the light.'"

The whole table exploded into laughter, myself included. And I realized that even though I had been run over by golf cart because I couldn't hear it, even though couldn't make conversation with my family, even though I couldn't make music, I could have friends.

Friends who were just like me.

* * *

 **Lesbihonest, the lack of LGBT in the Twilight series is really kind of fucked up. I knew they were written by SM, WASP Mormon mom of the century, but still. Like, there isn't a hint of any queerness anywhere. I had to fix that. So, introducing Joy and Naomi - my beautiful, diverse, Deaf, gay superheroes.**

 **I knew I wasn't going to have as many readers on this fic as I did for the last one, but I hope you're enjoying the direction I'm taking it. Enjoy & Review pls!**


	5. Disability

_Bella - 2009_

The bar was starting to fill up with patrons and music started to play from the other side of the room. The people that came in weren't usual bar-goers, either. A mix of different people from different walks of life milled around, drinks in their hands.

The diversity of the customer base of the Blue Bar was reflected well in graffiti on the walls of the bathroom. I washed my hands and let my eyes trace all over the walls. _When did I eat corn?_ Was scrawled next to the mirror. _Say perhaps to drugs_ was written in green above the towel dispenser. _Why does this gum taste funny?_ Was written with an arrow pointing to a bowl of condoms on the counter.

It wasn't _my_ usual place, that's for sure.

I walked out and found Edward at the bar. I watched him exchange money and was given alcohol. Shock and horror ran through me. "What are you doing?" I asked and yanked the bottle out of Edward's hand. _Mike's Hard Lemonade._ "Edward, this has _alcohol_ in it."

"So?" He asked and tried to take it back.

"You're not old enough to drink." I said and sniffed the contents. It smelled like cherry Kool-Aid. "How did you even get this?"

"I tipped the bartender a couple hundred dollars to take a less than observant look at my ID." He grinned and took the bottle back. "You want one? They're _really_ good."

"Edward," I groaned, but he had already turned back to the bar and was ordering two more, pointing to the bottle he already had. The bartender – a tall blonde - winked at Edward and he slid over what looked to be a fifty-dollar bill. He turned and tried handing the bottle to me, but I crossed my arms over my chest instead.

"Edward, you shouldn't be drinking." I said. "You're _underage_."

"Bella," He set both bottles down on the bar. I watched him his hands come up to sign, which caught me by surprise. He usually didn't with me, since I could hear. "I'm having _so much_ fun tonight. I didn't realize how tight the Deaf community is." He looked over at the group of people we were hanging out with and I looked with him. Joy was in the middle of a story and had the command of the attention at the table. "I can be _proud_ to be deaf around them." My favorite smile of his found its place on his face. "I can just be _me."_

I sighed, feeling the argument steam out of me. I knew he was having fun. I had been watching him all night. He had relaxed with them. He joked with Ricky, he talked about books with Joy and sports with Naomi. They corrected his signs and taught him new ones. They included him on the conversations. He had discovered his community with them.

And he hadn't complained of a headache once.

"You have to order something other than hard lemonades." I signed and then picked up the bottle. "These give you killer hangovers the next morning." I took a sip; it was sweet like cherry Kool-Aid too. You wouldn't even know that it was alcoholic.

His grin grew wider and his eyes flashed. "I'll keep that in mind." He signed and then kissed my head.

"Come on guys," Joy said as she signed at us with one hand, the fingers of the other clasped with Naomi's. "We're going to dance!"

Edward's hand found mine and I was dragged to the dance floor of the club. "Oh, no. Edward." I protested, but he didn't see me.

I was not a dancer. Actually, I was basically a moving hazard if I tried to do anything more than walk. The music was loud enough that the floor underneath us vibrated with the bass. Everyone around me moved with the beat and I danced hesitantly, trying to keep off of Edward's toes.

"You're not a bad dancer." Edward signed to me, keeping me caged against his body and away from other dancers, so I didn't accidentally hurt someone.

"I'm not a good dancer either." I signed back, swaying distrustfully and sipping my hard lemonade.

Edward just laughed at me.

Each empty bottle in my hand was replaced. I guessed Edward was tipping the waiters well enough to keep them on us refreshing our drinks as soon as the last drop was gone.

A couple of hard lemonades in and I was feeling better about the dancing thing. 'Liquid courage' is what Charlie called it when drunk people did things they normally shied away from and he was completely correct.

I swayed from side-to-side with the upbeat club music and Joy danced into my view, grabbing one of my hands and using the other sign.

"I'm happy you guys came." She signed.

"Me too." I signed back, finding Edward back at the bar. I rolled my eyes. I hope he was pacing himself. "Why this place?"

"They play their music the loudest!" She laughed and lifted our arms to spin underneath them. "We don't have a big Deaf community here, but it's tight. We support each other." Joy said and turned to Ricky who was dancing with Naomi. She waved her hand to get his attention. "Right, Ricky?"

"Whatever you say." He signed back to Joy, a smile on his face.

The DJ took a break, so we moved as a group to an empty pub table. Joy planted a kiss on Naomi's cheek and wrapped her arms around her waist. Edward bounced up behind me, his arms encircling around my middle and his drink sloshing over his hand. "I'm having so much _fun_!" He almost shouted at me. "I can _feel_ the music. I can dance!"

"I'm glad." I smiled up at him.

"I'm getting shots." Ricky signed. "Who wants one?"

"Me!" Joy and Naomi both pointed at their chests.

"I'll go with you." Edward volunteered, disconnecting from me. Ricky cracked a joke in sign language and Edward busted up laughing as they walked to the bar together.

"So," Joy turned to me. "You and Edward are _married?"_

I blushed and nodded. "Yeah, we got married in May." I signed back. "He was sick. We weren't sure if he was going to make it." I peeked at him as he was doubling over with laughter at Ricky. "I'm so blessed he pulled through."

"That's so romantic." Joy signed and said, looking into Naomi's eyes.

"Yeah, why don't you do nice things like that for me?" Naomi signed back, her mouth pouting.

Joy pushed her. "You bitch. I do nice things for you."

"Like get married?" She laughed.

I watched the two girls. I had learned that Naomi was genetically deaf, born and raised by Deaf parents and Joy went deaf at five from meningitis. They amazed me. When they ordered drinks at the bar, they just pulled out a cell phone and typed it out for the bartender. They were so _confident_ with themselves. They didn't care that the world was constructed for the hearing, they were perfect just they way they were.

 _How can Edward be like you guys?_

I looked at him again and bit my lip. He and Ricky were both turned at the bar, talking to the bartender. "Can I ask some advice?" I signed to the two girls across from me.

"What's up?" Naomi signed back.

"Edward's family…" I paused and looked to make sure that Edward wasn't looking, and worried my lower lip. "Isn't…adjusting to his deafness. They won't learn sign." I ticked off my fingers. "They're forcing him to read lips. It's like they make him think its his fault he is deaf."

Naomi and Joy shared a look that didn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. "That's more common than you think." Joy signed and said.

"Why do you think we have a Deaf community?" Naomi slapped her hand on the table, her face twisting angrily.

"His family just might be scared. Especially since he _just_ went deaf." Joy said and signed. "Maybe he just needs to sit down and talk to them. He has a lot of choices to make now." She ticked on her fingers. "He can learn sign and join the Deaf community, he can get CIs-,"

Naomi interrupted, her hands slapping together loudly. I didn't know what she signed, but I guessed it was dissenting based on the face she was making.

"What did she say?"

"Fuck those." Joy interpreted.

"What? Why?"

"Cochlear implants," Joy made a face. "They…help deaf people hear. But, most Deafies hate them. If he gets them, he might be ostracized from the community."

"Why?"

"Deafness is _not_ a disability." Naomi signed and spoke, her angry words surprising both Joy and I. It was the first time I heard her talk all night. Her accent made her words heavy and slurred. "It's a _culture_."

"And CIs have been pushed on hearing parents as the miracle cure for their deaf children." Joy added. "But you don't _hear_ anymore with them." She made a disgusted face. "It bypasses your ears and simulates sound on your auditory nerve. It ruins whatever natural hearing you have left. You're no longer hearing or deaf with them. You're just a freak with a thing on your head." She tapped her head above her ears.

"Shots!" Edward called as he and Ricky approached with small glasses filled to the brim with clear liquor. He handed one to me.

"Wonderful!" Joy signed.

"About time." Naomi signed, her pointer finger tapping her watch-less wrist.

"Don't look at me." Ricky signed and then pointed to Edward. "Look at lover boy over here."

"The bartender was flirting with me." Edward signed and then pursed his lips. "I think. It was dark and I really couldn't see what she was saying."

"You should've seen the look she gave him when he pointed to his wedding ring." Ricky signed, mimicking her wide-eyed expression. "Hilarious."

Joy picked up her shot. "Toast," She fingerspelled and said and then turned to Edward and I. "To new friends."

"To new friends!"

I looked up at Edward, who was throwing back his shot, the biggest grin split across his face.

* * *

I lost Edward.

He had been right by my side. We had moved back to the dance floor and as I danced, I thought about Edward's future with the community. I wondered if cochlear implants had been mentioned to him by Carlisle. Naomi's words echoed around my head. _Deafness is not a disability._ Is that why his family was so opposed to learning sign for him? Did they think he was _disabled_ now? That deafness was a disease? An affliction? Something that needed to be cured?

But, that didn't make sense. _All_ they wanted to do was help him when it came to the strikes. If they _did_ look at it like a disease, why didn't they want to help him? Why was deafness different?

Edward disappeared from the dance floor mid-song. I went back to our pub table, but it was occupied by new club-goers. I checked the bar, but he wasn't there either.

I tried FaceTiming him, but my phone wasn't connecting to his. I tried texting him. No answer. I looked at my texts and landed on Alice's name. Alice could probably see what Edward would decide to do next and that would help me pinpoint his location.

I closed my phone mid-text, disgust running through me. Why? Why? _Why?_ He was their _brother._ Their _son._ And he was still _Edward._ Why did it matter if his ears didn't work now?

Instead, I pushed into the crowd on the dance floor, looking for any sign of a tall, drunk redhead. I found Joy and Naomi dancing on the club floor, well past sobriety as they grinded up against each other. I tapped Joy on the shoulder. "Have you seen Edward?" I signed to her.

"I thought he went to the restroom?" She signed back with one hand, her other arm wrapped around Naomi's waist.

Restroom. I hadn't checked there yet. "Thank you." I signed, turned and forced my way through the dancers like Moses parting the Red Sea, not giving care to who I bumped into or through.

I found Edward in the hallway of the bathrooms, talking way too loud for normal conversation. People pushed past him and he wobbled on his feet.

"No, no, no." He argued with a stranger who had a pink mohawk, a half-drunk bottle of beer in his hand. "Jefferson Airplane was a _cornerstone_ of psychedelic rock. Pink Floyd - while _good_ \- couldn't hold a candle to Jefferson Airplane lyrically."

"You're on drugs." Pink Mohawk Guy said, getting into Edward's face. "Pink Floyd is a fucking powerhouse. Jefferson Airplane was a _two-hit_ wonder."

"You don't understand because you weren't there." Edward argued back, his face flushing red.

The guy pushed his shoulder. "Umm…unless you're somehow seventy years old, I _highly_ doubt _you_ were either."

Edward's nostrils flared with anger. "I'll have you kn-,"

I got in-between the two men before Edward could 1) start a fight with this stranger and 2) gives away the fact that he used to be a 108-year-old _vampire._

"Tell him, Bella." Edward motioned to the other guy, his green eyes swimming and bloodshot. "Tell him Jefferson Airplane is _way_ better than Pink Floyd."

"I'm sorry," I turned to Pink Mohawk Guy as I grabbed Edward's hand. "My husband is _really_ drunk."

"Okay," Pink Mohawk Guy said to Edward, ignoring me completely. "You gotta agree on Hendrix, though?"

"Oh," Edward's mood rapidly shifted upwards and he clinked his beer against Pink Mohawk Guy's drink. "Jimi Hendrix was the _man_ of psychedelic rock. You know, I saw him in concer-,"

"We're getting out of here." I interrupted and started pulling Edward's hand to keep him from the spilling the beans to a random person in the bathroom of a slightly seedy nightclub. "And you are never allowed to have alcohol in public again." I added.

I pulled Edward through the dance floor, pushing people who got in my way. I wanted to get away from the mass of hot, sweaty bodies and stale alcohol smell. I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to Joy and Naomi, though. I caught their attention and they waved to me.

"I think we are going to get out of here." I signed. "Edward's pretty gone."

"Hey, guys." He slurred and threw one arm around Naomi's shoulders. "What are _your_ thoughts on Jefferson Airplane?"

"Do you need help?" Naomi signed.

"I think I got it." I signed back.

"Okay," Joy leaned forward and squeezed me in a tight hug. "Text or call anytime." She looked at Edward. "I'm always here to talk if things get difficult."

"Thanks," I said gratefully.

"Okay, Edward." Naomi signed, maneuvering from under Edward's arm. "Get some rest. It was nice to meet you both."

I dragged Edward, making him deposit his lukewarm beer in the trash before we walked out of the door. Once outside, I inhaled deep breaths of fresh air under the neon lights of Mill Avenue. The night air was still very warm, but not as hot as during the daytime. Pleasant, as always. _I missed Arizona._

"Where is the car?" He asked, and spun like it was going to magically show up.

"We're walking, Edward." I said. "None of us are fit to drive."

"I didn't hear anything you said, but you looked beautiful saying it." Edward said as he pulled me close to him and planted a kiss on my lips.

"I love you, Edward Cullen."

"One pillll makes you largerrr…" He started to sing very loudly and very off-key. "And one pillll makes you smallll….."

* * *

"Wait." I murmured simply against his lips.

Edward groaned in protest, one hand inching its way to one of my breasts, the other holding me close enough that I could feel his erection through his jeans. "I can't just take you here in this empty elevator?"

I just chuckled in response. Drunk Edward was very bad at lip-reading. He was also pretty terrible at sign. It had been a chore to get him through the hotel grounds to our building. Darting off suddenly and randomly in a weird game of chase. I had to resort to seduction to get him to follow me. Not that I minded that _too_ much.

With our lips still locked together, I managed to get the keycard into the door, both of us stumbled through the threshold, and the lights of our suite on.

"Bella," He mumbled, his hands under my shirt as soon as the door swung shut. His mouth moved to the hollow of my neck. "I love feeling your heartbeat."

It sped up at his words, sputtering around in my chest. I breathed hard and fast, gasping as he ran his nose and tongue against my collarbone. I pushed him back for a second to remove my shirt for easier access and then started to undo his belt.

"No, wait." He said and pushed me against the wall next to the dining room. His fingers ran all over my body, one finger coming to brush my nipple through the thin material of my bra.

"Why?" I asked against his mouth.

I felt his pull up in a smile. "I want to try something."

Suddenly his mouth wasn't on mine anymore and I opened my eyes to him on his knees on the floor in front of me.

"What are you doing?" I signed at him.

He smiled at me as his fingers ran up my legs, hooked around my panties and pulled down. Suddenly his head was under my skirt and there was a tongue on the inside of my thigh inching closer and closer…

"Oh my god." I gasped a string of expletives as I fought for oxygen. I lifted one leg to allow for easier access and the hand that wasn't on my chest ran through his tousled hair. "Oh, God. Oh, Edward."

He disconnected as I started to edge towards an orgasm, my breaths hard and fast through my teeth. He stood up and pulled his shirt off, wiped the moisture off of his face with it, and threw it to the side. His hands found my chest and he played with my nipples. I raked my fingernails into his back and groaned with anticipation.

"Please," I begged and started pawing at his belt again. "Please."

He helped me with getting his pants off and in one fluid motion, grabbed me by my thighs and lifted me up off my feet against the wall. I hooked my legs around him and he finally slid inside of me, another string of expletives blurting out of me at the sensation.

"Oh, Bella." He groaned as he made love to me. "Bella."

"Don't stop." I gasped, my arms around his taut shoulders as he moved me up and down.

We both came at the same time. My cheek against his shoulder as I groaned and his head thrown back as he moaned my name. I panted hard, my arms still wrapped tight around his shoulders. His lips found my collarbone, the hollow of my ear, my temple. "I love you." He said as he breathed deep breaths.

"I love you." One arm disconnected to shakily make the sign.

He carried me into the bedroom with me still wrapped around him like a monkey hanging on a tree and flopped with me on the bed. "I'm so glad I'm a human." He groaned and rolled on his back, his snores taking him into unconsciousness.

* * *

I dreamt that night.

I heard piano music – my lullaby to be exact. Excitement lit me up from the inside. _Edward's playing._ I thought and jumped to my feet to run down the stairs.

I stopped short at the base of of the stairs, realizing it wasn't Edward playing. It was Peter, Jasper's friend. I felt tears prickle my eyes. _No, that's not your song._ I thought. _You're not allowed to play that. Only Edward's allowed to play that._

I looked at the crowd around them. The whole family – Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Carlisle and Esme – were all standing around watching Peter play the piano.

"Where's Edward?"

"We got rid of him."

I felt my mouth pop open in surprise. "What?" I squeaked.

"He was defective." Carlisle shrugged. "So we got rid of him."

"Where is he?" I demanded again.

Rosalie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Bella, we got you a new husband." She pointed to Peter.

I shook my head. "No. Where's Edward?"

"He's gone, Bella." Esme said, streaking across the room to grab my hand. "We can't have _disabled_ Cullens." She giggled like she thought it was preposterous that 'disabled' and 'Cullens' were in the same sentence together.

"This one is better anyway." Jasper said and went to go clap Peter on the shoulder. "

Shock and disgust and horror ran through me. I shook my head, not even believing my ears. "But, I want Edward. I only ever wanted Edward."

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

I groaned with the headache that pounded right behind my eyes, fighting for the last fleeting moment of unconsciousness before I had to wake up completely.

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

That sound was not helping the cause of extra sleep though. With another groan, I forced myself into a sitting position and rubbed my face. To my right, Edward laid like a starfish on his belly, his face squished into his pillow and his white, bare butt hanging in the air. He snored soundly, completely oblivious to the fact that his hearing aid was screaming that its battery needed to be replaced.

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

 _Ugh, make it stop._ I moved to my knees and looked at both of his ears, finding one of his hearing aids hanging from its mold in his outer ear canal. I carefully pulled that one out and then I searched the white duvet, finding the other one wrapped in the sheets next to Edward's knee. I turned both off and then placed them in a safe spot on the night stand.

The motion woke Edward and he groaned, opened his eyes, and then squeezed them shut again. "My head." He complained his fingers going to his temples. "Oh, my head."

I flopped back down into a prone position and rolled over to hitch one of my legs over his backside. I pushed his messy hair off of his forehead and then pressed my lips against it. "Good morning."

He carped in response, his eyes opening hesitantly to meet mine. "I can't believe I got so drunk."

"That's what most people say," I smiled and ran my hand down his shoulder to his back. "Did you have fun?"

"Repeat that."

"Fun? Last night?" I signed.

He smiled his arm coming up to loop around my waist. "Oh, yeah. So much fun."

"I'm glad." I said. _So glad you could be free to be deaf._

"We should nurse these hangovers with breakfast and a day next to the pool."

"That sounds perfect."

We both lapsed into silence and I thought for a moment that Edward fell back to sleep. I played with his hair and ran my finger down his chiseled face. I rubbed the pad of my thumb against the tight stubble that was starting to grow in on his jaw. He was so _warm_. So _human._

"Bella?" He asked hesitantly, his eyes opening to stare into mine.

"Yes?"

"Did I really get into an argument with someone about Jefferson Airplane?" He asked. "Because that felt like a dream."

I snorted so loud I probably woke our next door neighbor and nodded. "You were very insistent that they were the epitome of psychedelic rock."

"Okay," He breathed and closed his eyes again, his lopsided smile peeking on his face. "At least I'm not a lying drunk."

After more groaning about headaches, aspirin, and some coffee, we both made it into the large glass-encased shower together. Edward gently rubbed my shoulders under the hot water.

"This is nice." I said, letting my head roll back as his fingers expertly found all the sore knots in my back.

"Did you say something?" He asked, his accent thicker without his hearing aids.

I spun around and wrapped my arms around his waist. "You are an expert massage therapist." I said.

He grinned and tipped his head back to let the water soak in his hair. "We should drink more often. Last night was too much fun."

"Whoa, cowboy." I said. "Maybe not that often. I still have a headache."

He nodded. "Carlisle wouldn't be too happy if I drank like that too often, either." He straightened up. "' _You know how much stress processing ethanol puts on your liver_?'" He said in slightly deeper voice, mimicking Carlisle. It sounded off with his accent though.

I rubbed his arms. "He does have a point." I said. "You are the first ever patient to go from a human to a vampire back to a human. I can't imagine that's _good_ for the body."

Edward rolled his eyes. "I'm in perfect health." He shrugged. "Well, besides my useless ears."

I bit my lip as I stared into his face. _Deafness is not a disability_. I wasn't sure if I wanted to bring this topic up. I sighed, feeling my eyebrows furrows.

"What's wrong, my love?" Edward grabbed my chin, his eyes tracing all over

"Has Carlisle…ever mentioned cochlear implants to you?" I signed.

Edward shook his head no. "What are those?"

"Joy told me about them last night." I signed. "They're devices that _hear_ for you, I guess. They sit on your head." I pointed on myself where she did last night. "Both Naomi and Joy don't like them."

"Why don't they like them?"

"They said that they were pushed onto deaf kids as the 'miracle cure' for deafness. They also get you kicked out of the Deaf community, because Deaf people don't look at you the same with them." I bit on my lip.

"But they let you hear?"

I shrugged. "I guess they help." I could see the gears start to turn behind Edward's eyes. A kaleidoscope of emotions. His head turned to the side and I grabbed it and forced him to look at me. "You're perfect the way you are, you know." I said, my arm growing tighter around his waist.

"If I am perfect," He argued and stepped back. "Then why did I get run over by a golf cart yesterday?"

"Because the driver thought you were some jerk kid ignoring him." I dropped my arms so I could sign. "Look, I know it hasn't been easy, but look at the community you get to be apart of. Look at the friends you can make. There's a whole _college_ in Washington DC specifically for Deaf people. That's _super_ cool, Edward."

He sighed. "But, if I could hear, then I wouldn't have to read lips."

"If your family learned to _sign_ ," I corrected. "Then you wouldn't have to either."

"I'm going to ask them to learn to sign." He scowled. "And please, stop pushing me to ask them."

"Why?" I signed. "Why can't they do that for you? How many other languages do they know and they can't learn one more so they can

He looked down. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

I watched him inhale a deep breath, his face lighting up red. "The Cullens are not like other vampires, Bella." He shook his head. "Anyone of my family members would give anything to turn back into a human. Trade immortality for mortality." He pressed his fingers to his bare chest. "And _I_ got it. I was given the deepest desires of my heart. My one true wish was realized. You ask why don't they adapt to _me_ \- the human with a beating heart who can have a future that's something other than moving around endless, pretending to be something that they're not – and the answer is because they shouldn't have to."

I blinked, trying to piece it all together. "You feel… _guilty_ for being turned back into a human?" I asked slowly.

So, it wasn't about the deafness at all. It was because he was human. I had it completely wrong. He didn't tell them because he was afraid of hurting them. My self-sacrificing husband – shouldering the burden so no one else had to. That made me so happy. It meant that they still regarded him as Edward, _just_ Edward. Whether he could hear or not.

He made an exasperated noise and got out of the shower. "I said you wouldn't understand."

I followed him, turning the shower off on the way out and grabbing a towel. I hurried and moved in front of him as he started towards the bedroom. "Edward, if you didn't take the cure, you would be dead from the strikes." I flinched at those words, unable to even fathom a world without him in it.

"I know," He said and rubbed his towel against his head.

"What if something worse happened?" I signed. "What if you woke up paraplegic? Or – I don't know – a vegetable or something. Your family would still be there to take care of you."

He stopped, his shoulders slumping. "Bella, I really don't want to have this fight right now, okay?"

"Edward," I stopped him as he tried to round around me, my hands going to his arms. "I love you so much," I started, feeling the stab of memories twist in my middle. I sucked in a ragged breath and felt tears prickle my eyes. "That the thought of you almost dying physically hurts me."

He blanched, his face going pale. "Bella…" He grabbed my shoulders.

"We all feel that way about you. We hated to watch you suffer like you did. They _love_ you, Edward. Whether you are human or vampire," I felt the waterworks start down my face. "Whether you can hear or not, we're all just thankful you're _alive._ And if keeping you on earth means that we pick up a second language, then so be it, okay?"

He dropped his hands to his sides and then his eyes. I let the tears roll, wiping them away with the back of my hand and sniffing hard. We stood like that for a long time as I watched Edward's eyes move from emotion to emotion. "Okay," He finally nodded. "I'll ask them to learn ASL."

I pressed myself against him, feeling the coolness of his skin as it still dried off from the shower and kissed him, each of our matched breaths among the million blessings I counted.

* * *

 **Drunk Edward is best Edward, imho. Also, I don't have anything against cochlears, my cochlear-wearing peeps. It's a plot device.**


End file.
